“Why would it land at an angle?”
“This ship is a skinny long egg with a large metal ring orbiting it near the center. I can’t even tell you how it’s sitting upright at the current moment or how it ever landed on a planet in the first place. Basically, I imagine this ship is balancing on the bottom of its ring. If all the ice suddenly disappeared, what would happen?”
“I’m hungry,” she whispered.
“Really? That’s what you have to say?” he chuckled.
“Well, it’s true,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said, holding her tighter to him, “I wish… I wish-”
“You wish we stayed on the surface? We’d all be dead now. You wish we ran from those Cheronook kidnappers in Hollodale? You’d be a slave to the Shomani now and I’d be evaluated continually on how happy I’m keeping you while you build them their engine. I was a slave, Hawke. A mindless, ignorant slave.”
“But you’re not now,” he whispered, “I gave you your freedom. You forever have the power to say yes, no, maybe, or I don’t care.”
“But do you see what I’m saying? This is where we are today and this is better than any place else we could have been right now,” she said, kissing him on the chin, “I mean, I made love to my… what did you call it… ‘wife’ under a hot waterfall. Twice! Where else could I have done that?”
He laughed, “No, you’re my wife! I’m your husband. The guy is the husband and the woman is the wife. But I know what you’re saying. No matter what happens, being here on the ship with you makes it all worth it.”
She rolled onto him, kissing him firmly. He held her face in his hands, kissing her with equal passion.
“I don’t think I can do this again,” he whispered against her lips.
“Well, I think part of you disagrees strongly with that statement, sir” she whispered back, “Besides, you don’t have to do anything but kiss me. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Twenty-five
If Hawke had to guess, he’d say it was five or six in the morning when Fire Dragon joined him on the bridge. The man looked tired when he ambled down the stairs and stopped at the bottom.
“I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t be going off on your own without tagging us along,” Fire Dragon said, rubbing his tired eyes.
“I probably only slept three or four hours. When I woke up, I just couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t want to wake up Kashuba, so I just came down here to search through the ship’s systems,” he replied, turning back to the control panel in front of him.
Hawke was seated at one of the control panels near the starboard side of the room. He had discovered in the early hours that someone would be required to man this particular panel during the launch. Since it was the only seat where someone could control the lower ion thrusters, he hoped to search through its database to see if there was another option available to launch the ship upward at escape velocity.
“I want you right here when we bring the ring online. I’m certain that I can operate the G-reflex ring from the Captain’s seat, but someone else has to manage the thrust engines,” he said, waving him over, “We talked a little about this yesterday, but I’m fairly certain that the thrusters can only be controlled from this station. Remember what I said about the various thrusters?”
Fire Dragon yawned with the kind of fervent passion that made it contagious. Hawke couldn’t help but yawn and rub his eyes in response as Fire Dragon made his way over.
“Yes, you said that attitude control is everything and that I need to adjust the thrusters accordingly,” he repeated as though reading a book, “Are you sure the computer won’t manage those?”
“I think it probably would under normal circumstances, but we are going to have icebergs and glaciers falling from various portions of the ship at random intervals. What do you think is going to happen when a million-ton glacier falls off the forward section of the ship as we rise from the ground?”
“Granted, but the same sort of glacier will be falling from the back to offset the weight issue,” he replied, “Ice is slippery and it’s evenly distributed on the ship right now.”
“Trust me, Fire Dragon,” he stated, “I’m from Ohio and when we get glaciers on our cars in the winter and we opt to rely on gravity and wind to remove them, we learn quickly that they slide off the car at random times and at random locations. I know this means nothing to you, but I do have experience in this matter.”
“It’s fine. I get it,” he replied with another yawn, “I was just hoping you were going to tell me I would mostly be a backup in case the computer fails. It’s not going to be easy monitoring fourteen thrusters and making sure each one is set correctly.”
“But you can handle it, right?” he asked.
Hawke leaned back from the thruster control panel, waving his hand across the fourteen bars that would increase or decrease each individual thruster. Fire Dragon nodded, then wandered over to one of the other control panels.
“Are we doing it today?” Fire Dragon asked, touching the control screen.
“How do you feel about it?” Hawke asked, turning to him.
“Me?” he asked, tapping his way through the various systems they had discovered together the previous day, “I’m ready. It sounded to me that Sky Listener was ready for us to launch last night. I’d say you’d probably get a positive vote from most on this ship.”
“Sky Listener doesn’t count though,” Hawke said, “His vote to go was based on the fact that he located three of the known radio stars in the navigational computer. He’s banking on the fact that we are seriously getting off this planet. I’d say there’s a good chance we’ll get out of the ice, but I don’t know what to say about my faith that we’ll make it into orbit. And actually, I wonder how many people here really just want to get out of this buried city and get back to finding their new purpose on Rain. This planet is their home. Do they all share this dream of going to the stars?”
“I do,” a woman’s voice came from the stairs.
It was Night Whisper – the woman with the baby who was concerned a while ago that she didn’t belong. She had her baby cradled in the crook of her arm as she finished coming down the stairs.
“I lost everything and I have to believe everyone else here did as well,” she said, locating one of the Captain’s chairs and taking a seat, “The Shomani aren’t going to give up until all the Cheronook are gone. Their histories tell of the Cheronook once possessing such amazing kinds of magic that they subdued all of creation. The stories are so old that it’s quite possible this so-called magic was simply these advanced technologies we once possessed. I also wonder if they know this to be the case.
“If you prevent the Cheronook from advancing technologically, then you can ensure the Cheronook will never again possess the magic they once used to dominate their world. When your ship arrived, they had to take it and prevent it from getting into Cheronook hands. Once we had it and then we abducted you as well, they knew they must kill us. Obliterate all of us. Think about it. Why would they try to sink the ship Hawke was on if they wanted him back? Why would they rain fire on the North, destroying everything, if Hawke was so important to them? No, Hawke was a threat to them and they wanted to possess him or to kill him. There was no other option.”
“Dear Lord,” Hawke muttered.
“I thought as much also,” Fire Dragon said sadly.
“They want you dead, Hawke,” she said, her expression as sad as it always appeared, “And if we get out of here, it’s going to be no secret to anyone in the northern hemisphere. The Shomani will advance with everything they have until no Cheronook remains on Rain. You must not get us out only to land the ship again in the North. If you do, we will die at the hands of the Shomani.”
Hawke rose from the chair and started to pace near the icy window. He rubbed the back of his neck, staring down at the floor.
“You’re not making my decision any easier, Night Whisper,” he groaned, “I figured that the lea
st I was going to do was rescue us from our burial and that would have still been a good thing.”
“No it wouldn’t,” she replied, “Take us to a radio star. Those are some very happy people. We hear their laughter and their silliness in our telescopes. There, we will certainly be safe.”
“Radio star,” he muttered, shaking his head, “I think I know what it is you’re listening to. I was once told that they are blaring a bunch of nonsense as though people were talking without realizing they were being listened to. That’s exactly what it was, except people weren’t talking really to each other. They were acting. You said yourself that there’s a lot of laughter and silliness. You looked to the stars hoping that others out there would be sharing technologies, wisdom, and knowledge with the other Cheronook but all they’re sharing is their television shows and that’s not even intentional. And I can tell you from experience that the other Cheronook out there would have never imagined in their wildest dreams that they would be sharing their televised plays with their own distant relatives in other areas of the galaxy!”
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Hawke,” she said, turning to him with fear in her eyes.
“No, you didn’t upset me. I upset myself actually,” he said, halting his mindless pacing, “I just feel like the butt of the universe’s biggest joke. Seriously, it’s nothing to do with you or anyone else for that matter. I’m just being hit suddenly with a lot of reality I wasn’t ready for.”
“So, what does this mean?” Fire Dragon asked, “Are we still going to attempt a launch today?”
Hawke pressed his head against the cold glass, looking through the thick window into the solid wall of ice. He rubbed the back of his head, wishing all this responsibility wasn’t dropped onto his shoulders. He turned back around and looked from Fire Dragon to the woman who was staring down at the now wakened infant.
“Yeah, we’re going to find a way to get out of here,” he said, knowing full well that he had one option at his disposal that he would have never attempted if he were on Earth.
Twenty-six
Several hours later, everyone had taken their places throughout the ship. An hour prior, they learned that the gravitational-reflex ring would not come online unless someone acknowledged the bridge’s command from inside the control room itself. They discovered that there was another safeguard in place that required a person to acknowledge their presence in both the reactor control room and the ion thruster control center. It took three attempts to bring the gravitational-reflex ring online before they realized that they all needed to respond to the command from the bridge within thirty seconds.
Hawke sat at the Captain’s chair with Light Bender seated next to him in the other chair. Fire Dragon manned the thrusters. Sky Listener manned the navigation controls. Kashuba sat in the back of the bridge with the pack of survival gear, which included plenty of rope, a bane saw, a bane torch, knives, and lights. Winter Grass carried an identical survival pack, waiting in the engineering room with Ocean Song and Rain Dancer. Kashuba and Winter Grass were responsible for supplying the tools for a quick escape in the event of a crash landing. All the rest kept nearby positions throughout the ship to be of assistance if needed.
“Let’s see if they can all hit their acknowledge switches this time,” Hawke said, breathing out a long slow breath.
He tapped the icon for the gravitational-reflex ring, then tapped the two ignition functions. He waited as a trio of black circles showed up on his screen. Immediately, the ion thruster circle turned green. Fire Dragon was seated at his station nearby, so his immediate response had been expected. Hawke stared at the screen for a moment before the engineering control circle turned green.
“We’re almost there,” he said, watching the screen as the butterflies danced in his stomach.
He couldn’t imagine what was taking them so long down there. If the reactor control person didn’t hit the switch, they would have to wait another fifteen minutes until the coils warmed up again. Suddenly the third circle turned green.
The ship itself groaned all of a sudden as though the metal itself was preparing to twist apart. Metallic squeals reverberated all around, though nothing seemed to be happening.
Light Bender inadvertently screamed when the windows to his left erupted with a violent shattering sound. Nothing had changed in the integrity of the windows or in the structure of the ice beyond. All eyes were on the windows around them, fearing the worst. After several seconds of silence, the bridge erupted in a brutal concerto of crackling and shattering glass. Hawke covered his face, absolutely certain that the windows had fully imploded. Kashuba shouted when the creaks of twisting metal blended with the crashing sounds all around them.
Suddenly, as if the ship itself was instantly brought to life, their world trembled. A vibration resonated throughout the ship, reminding everyone that they might not have been on solid ground anymore. A tremor rocked the ship while they watched the ice beyond the windows start to break apart and fall away.
“All fourteen thrusters are now online and I’ve got them all set at thirty-three percent like we agreed,” Fire Dragon hollered.
“I show that we are actually moving now,” Sky Listener offered.
“One has to wonder,” Light Bender turned to Hawke, “what this all must look like from the surface.”
“I’d like to believe there are some Shomani up there succumbing to the unimaginable power of a disastrous quake even as we speak,” Hawke said.
The last of the ice fell away from the windows, revealing a dark cavern that was still smooth in some areas from where the ship had been settled. They could now see the bottom of the ship, but only in the areas surrounding the six blue thrusters before them. Unlike the thrusters Hawke was accustomed to, these ones radiated only a minimal amount of light and lacked the secondary cloud of burned gases.
“There’s land out there,” Light Bender pointed.
They could see dark patches of dirt and crushed foliage for only a moment before it was covered by an avalanche of ice. The ship continued to shudder and quake as the dark cavern grew beneath them.
“Try increasing the thrust to fifty percent,” Hawke hollered over toward Fire Dragon.
He immediately complied, the six blue Vs of the ion jets becoming brighter and more prominent beneath the forward portion of the ship. The tremors rocked the ship more violently just as the sunlight peeked through in random sharp beams. Enormous boulders of ice continued to tumble down the newly formed valley beneath the ship while the sun continued to increase its presence.
“It’s beautiful,” Kashuba said, walking toward the front of the ship with her survival bag in tow, “It’s like a valley of virgin snow.”
Suddenly, an enormous white glacier dropped into the side of the valley she spoke of, causing the ship to instantly angle upward. She tumbled backward due to the abrupt incline just as Fire Dragon shouted an expletive.
“I’ve got it,” he hollered, adjusting the thrusters, “Hold on.”
Hawke shot from his seat just as the floor became level again. He helped Kashuba back to her feet, checking to see if she was all right.
“Get back to your seat, Hawke,” she admonished him, “I can take care of myself. You’ve got a job to do.”
She was right, of course. He returned quickly to his seat. It was then that he realized the bridge itself was finally above the level of the land. It was midday in the world above and the sky was clear. They now witnessed firsthand that the Cheronook villages that hadn’t been overturned by the ship’s ascent were indeed burned to the ground. Even the furthest villages near the mountains could be seen in charred ruin.
“Oh my,” Sky Listener exclaimed, “The Shomani left nothing.”
They all gaped out at the absolute destruction of all they once held dear.
“I wish we had weapons on this thing,” Light Bender stated, pointing to the fleeing figures in the distance.
That’s when they saw the two Shomani aircraft on the ground and
the four Shomani Navy ships in the nearby waters. It appeared that they had been busy raiding the villages or perhaps coming to inspect the totality of their kill.
“Well, they definitely see us,” Hawke chuckled.
Kashuba stood near Hawke, staring with tears in her eyes.
“We need to get out of here, people,” Fire Dragon stated, pointing to the ships in the water, “I’m increasing thrust before they start firing on us.”
“They already started!” Hawke hollered, pointing at the flash from the side of one of the ships.
The ship rose quickly as Fire Dragon increased the thrust to presumably a hundred percent. Ice chunks and snow continued to fall from the ship as they rose rapidly into the sky. Hawke rose from his seat as the Frozen North fell away beneath them. He made his way to the window, staring out at the shrinking world below. He could now see three zeppelins that had been far beyond the horizon at ground level escorting a large convoy of inbound Cheronook vessels. From what he’d seen of the Cheronook’s naval skills, the Shomani were about to pay dearly for their attack on the North.
The zeppelins were no larger than grains of rice beneath them by the time the ship stopped advancing upward. The thrusters were still firing at their maximum potential but the ship merely hovered at a significant height.
“Are we still rising?” Hawke asked.
“Looks like we’re as high as we’re going to go,” Sky Listener stated, “We’re stuck at six and a half miles and hovering.”
“And it looks like whatever these thrusters use for fuel is dwindling fast,” Fire Dragon stated, “They went from full to fifty percent in the time it took us to get where we are at.”
“Does anyone see a control for aft thrusters?” Hawke shouted, returning to his seat, “We need to get away from the convoy beneath us as soon as we can. I don’t want to disrupt them.”
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