Tales from the Void: A Space Fantasy Anthology

by Chris Fox

  He made his way to the tiny sleeping quarters. Flopping down on the small bed, his head hit the pillow and he was out.

  9

  Spiral

  Dr. Fox entered the bridge after a few hours of sleep. He was still tired. He hadn’t had enough sleep, yet he was invigorated by the prospect of the discovery. He found Reese asleep at her console, snoring gently. Emma turned from her console, the cable connecting her temple to the ship swaying. She held her index finger up to her lips, motioning for quiet.

  “She’s been out for thirty minutes. Let’s give her as long as possible,” Emma whispered.

  He nodded and sat down at his terminal, bringing up the previous night’s research. Wow, Reese had really made some progress while he had slept. The glyphs, when read in a spiral pattern, told the story of a mass exodus.

  Then he had a thought. What if it was relevant backwards, too? He began to trace the spiral pattern backward. Reading the glyphs, he discovered it painted a darker picture. Something about the gift turning to a curse. There was reference to blood sacrifice and genocide. The farther he went, the worse it became.

  War, famine, and a host of other catastrophes were recorded. So the Tevari cast off the yoke of machines and began to live simply. But they had not left technology behind entirely. The Navigator was the shepherd of the tech that they still needed, the tech that would allow them to escape.

  “Doodaloodooloo,” his QET rang.

  Reese startled awake, glaring at him bleary eyed.

  It rang again and he pulled it from his pocket.

  As it was ringing yet again, Reese queried, “Are you going to answer that?”

  “Um, I guess?” he replied, unsure whether to take the call.

  If he didn’t, his mom would probably just keep calling until he did answer. She worried something terrible, he knew. Bracing himself, he hit the answer button. His mom’s face bloomed into view.

  “Oh, bubbala, I’m so glad you answered. I’ve missed our dinners terribly. How is work? How is Dr. Phillips? Have you kissed her yet?”

  “Mother!” he exclaimed, “It’s not like that. We’re professionals!”

  “You want a kiss, Chris?” Reese said, making a face and puckering up.

  “That’s nice dear,” his mom said as if she hadn’t heard his protests. “What is her family like?”

  “Mom! Aren’t you interested in how my expedition is going?”

  “Of course I am. Tell me more.”

  He couldn’t tell her about his near death encounter with the hooters, so he didn’t know what to say.

  Not wanting to reveal Reese’s research without her consent either, he said instead, “I managed the search drones, dozens of them. We sent them out to scan for glyphs, that we then…”

  “That’s nice, dear. Do you remember that holovid? That one with that guy? That Chacklebart Grimwald guy?” she cut in.

  “You mean Roberto Griswold? What holovid? He’s been in so many.”

  “That one where he plays that guy. And he goes to this place, with the buildings and the aerocars. He follows somebody, or a map, or something.”

  “Mom, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied as Hubbell chuckled loudly.

  Great, now Hubbell was here too. The embarrassment was just growing and growing.

  “Never mind, it’s not important. I just want to know when you’ll be back for dinner, bubbala.”

  Hubbell let out a guffaw.

  “Sorry mom, I won’t be back for a while.” He didn’t want her to worry, but it could likely be weeks. “But don’t worry, the first place I’m going when I get back is your place, okay?”

  “Alright, bubbala, I’ll let you get back to your droning. Find out about Dr. Phillips’ family. You always want to marry into a successful family.”

  “Bye mom,” he said, as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

  No sooner had the image of his mom disappeared when both Hubbell and Reese burst out laughing.

  “Bubbala? Bubbala!” Hubbell managed through heaving belly laughs.

  “So you’ve got a thing for me, eh?” Reese said to him.

  He blushed even harder.

  “No, I mean, not that I wouldn’t…. I mean, not like that. It’s just that you’re impressive. I respect you. My mom’s just rambling. Our relationship is professional,” he stammered.

  She grinned at him and said, “Don’t worry, Chris, I’m just ribbing you. I know when a man is into me or not.”

  He released an internal sigh of relief. At least it was just embarrassing, and not a complete misunderstanding.

  “So, bubbala, do you have dinner with your mommy often?” Hubbell taunted, laughing.

  “Yeah, when I was at the academy, she lived several stations over.”

  “That’s nice. I’d like to still have a mother, y’know,” Hubbell said in a more compassionate tone.

  “Yeah, me too,” Reese chimed in. “Don’t let our ribbing interfere with your relationship. Keep her close.”

  “So what happened to your mother, Hubbell?” he asked tentatively, unsure if the question was appropriate.

  “Reese, you wanna tell, or should I?” Hubbell asked deferentially.

  “Go ahead, you can tell the story,” Reese acquiesced.

  “So our mothers were in the same unit, in the Jamu Spacer’s Brigade. They were best friends. They supported each other because our dads ended up not really being fathers. I was seven and Reese was sixteen when they were deployed to a particularly nasty battle with the Dalorians. Their ship was damaged and went nova. We were raised by the Jamu children’s system. Basically an orphanage.”

  “Wow, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what else to say, but I’m really sorry to hear that,” he said, feeling compassion for their collective loss.

  “It’s okay. I think we both turned out alright. Anyway, Reese left for the academy once she was old enough, and I entered the military years later.”

  “Emma, process the drone sensor data, isolating for energy signal alpha,” Reese instructed, coincidentally changing the topic.

  “Processing…. Done. The center of the city is indeed the source of the alpha signal. Also, I should note the local fauna seems to have retreated.”

  “Great, as I suspected. On both counts,” Reese replied assuredly. “Hubbell, grab the laser. Chris, there’s a black pack with gear in the cargo bay. Will you pick that up?”

  He made his way to the cargo bay and located the pack. He slung it over his shoulder and waited for the ramp to lower. What if the hooters were just hiding? Or maybe one of those cat-things might show up. He couldn’t stop thinking about alien monsters. So he just grit his teeth and tried desperately to be brave.

  10

  Heavy Weapons

  Hubbell pushed a large cart along in front of them. It contained a folded scaffolding and a large laser drill, bulky and squat. Dr. Fox readjusted the pack again, unable to find a comfortable way to carry the heavy bag. He was distinctly uncomfortable, and it wasn’t just the pack. Looking around nervously again, he verified there were no beasts sneaking up on them.

  He may have been right about them being nocturnal. But what if they made an exception for them? The hooters had seemed pretty intent on eating their flesh.

  No matter. Hubbell seemed confident as ever, so he relaxed some. They made it to the courtyard at the center of the city without incident. There was no sign of hooters or any other threatening alien beast.

  “Help me set up the laser,” Reese said to Hubbell. “Chris, open the pack and get out the contents.”

  As they set about assembling the scaffolding, he examined the contents of the pack. There was a dozen spare powerpacks for the drill, several clamshell cases with unknown contents, and a six inch cylindrical probe attached to a winch by a thin wire.

  Reese and Hubbell finished setting up the scaffolding and hoisted the large laser drill into it, so it was hanging vertically.

  “The moment of truth,” Reese
said, and flicked the switch to activate the laser.

  The bright red beam lanced out and began to melt the stone, and then it started to vaporize. A two-foot wide hole was being bored into the stone floor of the courtyard.

  “This is going to take a while. Chris, why don’t you go see if you can find that malfunctioned drone. The sector it was supposed to map is right around the corner from here,” Reese suggested.

  Not wanting to seem as frightened as he was, he tried to reply casually, “Sure, I’ll go see what I can find.”

  He set out to the unmapped sector after brief directions from Reese. Hubbell had said to yell if he needed help. Neither had made him any more confident. Although he thought he was doing a pretty good job faking it. Hopefully the others were buying it.

  Once out of sight, he began to creep cautiously along, sticking close to the walls and frequently looking behind him. He scanned the ground looking for that glint of chrome, but found none, until he turned a corner into a dead-end alley.

  There in the middle of the alley was the drone, torn nearly in half. He stooped to retrieve it. As he lifted it, a ragged metal edge sliced neatly into his finger.

  “Ow!” he said, dropping the drone.

  He wrapped his finger in the hem of his shirt, trying to staunch the bleeding. His finger emerged a moment later, still bleeding, as he stopped and stared. There was a stone door at the end of the alley, with several glyphs illuminated in bright green.

  Dr. Fox knew what they meant. They meant Navigator, enter here. He stumbled on a crack in the stone floor and staggered forward. He caught himself with his hands, injured finger and all, smearing blood across the stone. He pushed himself upright and brushed back some of his lanky hair.

  Watching in amazement, the glyphs began to glow brighter, the spots where his blood had touched shining brightest of all. Then his blood was simply absorbed by the stone. There was a deep rumbling, coming from beneath the ground. The city shook and trembled, like an earthquake.

  But considering recent events, he didn't find a coincidental earthquake to be plausible. Either he had triggered something here, or Reese had been the source with her drill back in the courtyard. Then the massive stone block that made up the door slowly began to slide aside. It revealed a darkened passage leading down.

  There was no way he was going to go down there alone. No amount of pride would allow him that much stupidity. No, he was going to report back. Let Reese and Hubbell decide how to tackle it.

  Gingerly scooping up the metal wreckage of the drone, he extracted the tablet from his belt pouch. He located the drone’s memory core, emitting a sigh of relief when he found it intact. Removing it, he slotted it into the reader on the tablet. He pulled up the video and watched as the drone entered the alleyway. Then symbols flared to life in red light on the stone wall at the end of the alley.

  Pausing the image, he searched the notes he had downloaded to the tablet, locating the meaning of the runes. Mechanicals are forbidden to enter, it read. He hit play and the runes glowed even brighter. A hovering ball of red energy sprang to life in the air before the runes. It shot toward the drone and then the recording ended.

  The mysterious glowing runes didn’t look like any technology he had ever encountered. Excited, he made his way back to the courtyard. Dashing over, he paused, noticing Hubbell’s harsh look and Reese’s worried tone. She was talking over a radio to Emma.

  “… your friend Numen just landed. There are at least five of his pirates knocking at the door. They’re hacking the panel. At this rate they’ll be through in as little as twenty-two minutes.” Emma’s voice came over the transmitter, urgency evident. “You took twenty-six minutes to reach your destination. By the way, Hubbell, they’re well armed. Looks like energy rifles and machine guns.”

  “Dammit,” she said, checking the magazine in her pistol. “Seven rounds, five heavily armed bad guys. I don’t like those odds.”

  “I know a way you can even the odds,” Reese said elusively.

  “How?” Hubbell asked, following Reese’s eyes to the laser drill.

  Hubbell darted over to it and shut it down, disconnecting it from the scaffolding. She hefted the laser drill and pointed it down the street, bracing it against her hip.

  “Let’s go. Stay well behind me, okay?” she said to them.

  Hubbell broke into a run and Dr. Fox followed, a dozen paces back. Reese hung just off his left shoulder. It didn’t take long before he was winded, but they had to save Emma. They had to keep the pirates out of the ship. So he redoubled his efforts and kept running.

  They reached the main avenue leading to the courtyard where the ship was parked and Hubbell slowed. She held up her hand for them to stop, then motioned them over.

  “You two sneak around the other side and see if you can get in the ship through the airlock on the port side of the ship.”

  He nodded and followed Reese as she dashed off. They wound their way through stone buildings, and came out the other side of the courtyard. He watched as Hubbell stepped around the corner, laser drill aimed at the pirates.

  Her first beam blast took an unaware pirate in the back, sending him flying. She walked the beam across the others and then up the pirates’ ladder they were using to reach the access panel, shearing it in half and dropping the Thevar that was working at hacking the entry panel. Pirates scattered under her assault, darting for the cover of the ship’s landing gear.

  Once under cover, they began returning fire, plasma bolts and laser blasts peppering the corner of the stone building where Hubbell was taking cover. Reese pulled out her radio.

  “Emma, can you use that trick with the jets?” Reese asked through her communicator.

  “I’m sorry, they are not within proximity to any maneuvering thrusters,”

  Damn! What were they going to do? Seeming to have heard her, one of the pirates, a spindly creature with a bat-like face and huge ears, turned toward them. It bared its teeth and raised a wicked looking machine gun, a huge drum of ammo slung underneath.

  He grabbed Reese’s collar and yanked her back behind the corner just as a hail of high velocity rounds smashed into the stone wall. Rounds streamed through the air and tore into the stone, smashing off huge pieces. They needed to run, and run now. So he ran without hesitation, thankful to hear Reese’s feet pounding after him.

  Slowing as they reached an intersection, he crept forward and peered around, in both directions. It looked all clear. He motioned for Reese and they prepared to cross the street to the next alleyway. He darted across and the chattering of the machine gun followed him. Rounds traced their way down the street, ricocheting at his feet and buzzing around his head.

  He dove for the alley as rounds shattered the stone wall. He looked across the street and could see Reese was okay. He motioned for her to run and then stood and bolted himself.

  Running through the city, he chose his path at random. But after some time he finally stopped and listened. Hearing no sounds of pursuit, he immediately worried that maybe the Crevak had followed Reese instead. Not much he could do about it now.

  If they were going to meet up, he knew where. The city center was where the others would go, he was sure. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he was. But he knew he was north of the center, at least he knew that much. Spotting the sun, he roughly oriented himself south and began to pick his way through the maze of stone buildings and jungle overgrowth.

  11

  Fuel

  It took some time, probably close to half an hour, before Dr. Fox found a main avenue that ran into the central plaza. He began to trot toward the square, keeping close to the buildings, primed to dash into an alley at the first sign of pirates.

  Reaching the plaza, he peered around the corner of a low stone building covered in vines and other vegetation. The coast was clear, so he dashed over to their gear, scanning the surrounding buildings and avenues for any signs of movement.

  Looking at the gear, he noted nothing had been touched. The
y had likely not made it here. He felt a knot in his stomach and hoped they were okay.

  Then a flurry of rounds tore through the gear next to him. He looked over to see the Urnak pirate with the machine gun advancing, preparing to fire again. He sprinted toward the other side of the courtyard, dodging and juking, bullets flying all around him. Somehow he managed to dive behind a pile of rubble before the Urnak found his mark.

  Damn this guy was persistent. Maybe the only way to escape is under? He could take that passage that had opened up. He even thought he could remember the way.

  He didn’t consider it a second time, he just broke into a run. Dashing through alleys, between buildings, over rubble piles and under hanging vegetation, he ran for his life. Darting around the final corner, he entered the alleyway.

  It was a dead end. The stone door was closed, and the glyphs were gone. He ran to the end and was about to push on the door, when the symbols materialized on the surface, glowing green. Moments later, the door slid open for him. He subconsciously noted the glyphs read, “Welcome Navigator.”

  Without thinking, he dashed inside, just as he heard someone crashing through the jungle behind. As he passed the threshold, the door closed behind him. There was a faint glow coming from somewhere down the sloping tunnel, so he went toward it.

  The passageway leveled off after what he could only assume was several stories worth of descent. Maybe he was ten meters deep? He examined the new corridor. A puddle of light from a wan blue emitter filled the center of the hall, leaving everything bathed in a dull blue.

  The walls and floor, and ceiling for that matter, were all a deep blue material, metal-like, traced with faint gold circuitry and the odd component soldered to the wall in random places. As he tentatively stepped into the hallway, lights flickered on down the line, illuminating his path.

  “Welcome, Navigator, to the city of Acheron….” A wheezing, weathered, ancient sounding voice echoed.