Star Runner

by Mark McDonough

  Chapter Twenty – The Dramazan System

  Ace hovered over the helm. His fingers itched to touch the controls, to feel the ship respond to his every command. In front of him, Holas shifted in his seat, causing Nick to shuffle sideways with a frown. The longer he watched, the more confident he felt about being able to fly the Star Runner. And consequently, the more frustrated.

  He’d been watching Holas for most of the shift, puzzling out the controls. The visors were an enormous help. Just being able to read the controls and screens had cut down his learning curve by at least half. Ace had alternated from side to side of the horseshoe-shaped helm and he was now certain what almost every section was for.

  Working from the left side, Nick ran through the controls again. Extreme left, almost at the helmsman’s side, were the back-ups. Secondary navigation screens, both long and short range were at the top. Under them were the power levels indicators – FTL drive, ion drive and batteries. The next section along were the controls for the FTL drive itself.

  In the centre of the helm were the main navigation and flight controls. Five screens lined the top, all of them giving information about the space around the ship – fore, aft, port, starboard and long-range. Underneath were the controls for actually flying the ship, including what looked to be a small plate exactly in the centre that looked like it could slide aside.

  The second section from the right held the controls for the ion drive, almost a mirror image of the Faster-Than-Light controls. The far right of the helm held the only section that Ace had yet to puzzle out. It seemed fairly similar to the main flight controls, but there was something different that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. The idea of not being able to figure out a part of a helm’s control really irritated him.

  “How’s it going, Ace,” Alex asked, making him jump.

  Nick looked around at his brother standing just behind him.

  “Pretty much got it,” he replied. “There’re a couple of controls I haven’t worked out yet, but I can fly her, no worries. Not really all that different from the cruisers that I flew in the simulators.”

  Alex nodded. “Good. So, what do you say, Holas? You must be just about ready for a break. Care to let Nick take her for a while?”

  Holas looked around and up, a frown on his deep purple face. “I am not certain, Alexander. Are you sure that Nick can handle her?”

  Ace held his breath, even as he felt his face flushing with anger.

  “He’s a good pilot, Holas,” Alex answered quickly, cutting off anything that Nick might have said. “You saw him with Pod Nine.”

  “Hmm, yes, that is true,” he conceded. “But the Star Runner is a much larger ship.” He paused. “I did not even let Zheen pilot Lornicaan’s Gem and she, I think, is older than Nick, plus the Gem was a much smaller vessel.”

  “Zheen’s an engineer. Nick’s a pilot. It’s what he’s trained for,” Alex answered carefully.

  “I can do this, Holas,” Ace almost pleaded. “Just give me a chance to prove it.”

  “Very well,” he sighed at last. “But I shall stay to watch, in case you happen to need some assistance.”

  Nick forced himself to stay perfectly still as Holas tapped some last controls before slowly standing up. As soon as there was room, he slipped into the helmsman’s chair and danced his fingers over the board. Ace froze.

  “If you don’t mind, Holas, the first thing I’m going to do is take her off auto-pilot,” Ace said as quietly as he could.

  Holas chuckled. “Maybe you do know what you’re doing after all. The helm’s yours, Nick.”

  Ace tapped the controls releasing the helm. This time when his fingers began their dance, the ship responded. A short glide each way, then up and down. Having a basic feel for the ship, Nick settled her back onto course.

  He took his time now, testing out the feel of each system, its location to the others, the distance his fingers had to move, how far his chair needed to swivel. Every element gave him a greater feel for the helm and his role as helmsman.

  “You seem to know what you are doing,” Holas remarked.

  Nick looked around and smiled. He’d lost track of the time already and had completely forgotten that Holas was still there. It’s what normally happened to him when he was flying.

  “If anything comes up, let me know,” Holas said. “I think it is time that I went below for some food and rest.”

  The next time Nick looked around; he found that he had the flight deck to himself. He smiled, sighed and turned back to doing what he loved best, flying.

  ---

  When Alexander came on duty that afternoon, he smiled as he saw his youngest brother already sitting in the pilot’s chair. Nick, Holas and Tran had set up a roster for piloting the ship not long after Nick’s first stint at the hem. With both Pete and Nick now accepted as valued crew members, Alexander knew that it just left him to find his niche. He gave a brief nod to Zheen to his left at the engineering console before he headed right.

  Of the two consoles along the starboard side of the fight deck, Alexander had quickly worked out that one of them was set up for basic science. It made him wonder even more about the former crew. This was supposedly a merchant vessel, and yet, there was ample room for the crew, two mini-labs down on the bottom deck and now this. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t going to question his luck.

  He brought the console to life. Pete’d been right. The visors might take a bit of getting used to, but they were sure making life easier. Alexander looked over his controls. The sensors on the Star Runner were incredibly low level, in many cases, barely better than what was on their own pod. In a few areas, though, they greatly exceeded his expectations.

  This was especially the case with the long-range sensors. They may not have been the match of the sensors back on Cygnus Station, but when combined with the computing power of the ship, they were definitely above average. He set the sensors to do a long, slow probe of the space around the ship before sitting back and bringing up the sensor data for the past shift.

  Seeing nothing unusual or interesting, he dumped it and brought up the real-time sensor data. He poured over it lazily as his mind wandered. The previous shift, he’d created a program that would collate the star maps stored in the ship’s computer with the data they were currently receiving, as well as the maps of their home part of the galaxy that he’d been able to put together from memory. He hoped that this information, combined with the data in the pod’s computer, and the charts that they would get from the space port, would be enough to give them a course home.

  A chirp from his console brought him up with a jerk. Keying in a query lit the screen with a flow of information. Alexander sat back and stared. The long-range sensors had found what could only be a black hole. He checked the data again. Noticing the heading, Alexander sent the data to the helm. He barely noticed Nick’s wave of acknowledgement as he bent to examine the data.

  It was similar to Cygnus X-1 in many ways, although somewhat larger. As an exercise for himself, Alexander calculated the distance that the event horizon would be from the black hole itself and filed it away. Analysing the newer information, he noticed that Nick had altered their trajectory so that they would pass by slightly closer than they had originally planned.

  Alexander smiled. It wasn’t often that his youngest brother thought about someone other than himself. He turned back, focussing the sensors and settled in for a nice long study of only the second black hole that he’d ever “seen”.

  ---

  Pete had sat mesmerised at the engineering console on the flight deck since the Star Runner had entered the Dramazan system. Since then, its sun had grown from little more than a small yellow dot to something about the size of a pea. They had passed close enough to two of the eleven planets to get a decent look at them and had been able to make out three others.

  Now, they were approaching the fourth planet, th
e one that had reached out into space to invite them there.

  A burst of static broke from the communications console behind him. Pete tore his gaze from the blue, white and brown marble on the viewscreen to look back at Zheen. She had her head bent over her console, shoulders hunched in concentration.

  “Dramazan Space Port, this is the merchant vessel Star Runner requesting clearance to land,” Zheen announced into the communicator.

  “Merchant vessel Star Runner from Dramazan Space Port. Request received. What is the purpose of your visit, please?” a scratchy voice asked.

  Zheen glanced at her father at the helm before answering.

  “Trade and supplies,” she finally answered.

  “Merchant vessel Star Runner, you are cleared for landing at Field Three,” the voice answered after a brief pause, “coordinates to follow.”

  “Star Runner receives and verifies landing at Field Three with thanks,” Zheen responded.

  A short minute later, her console beeped with the promised coordinates.

  “I’m transferring the coordinates to you now, Father,” said Zheen as she flipped a few toggles.

  “Thank you, Zheen. All right, everyone,” Holas announced, “I’m taking her in.”

  Pete swung forward again and watched the screen. He noticed that Nick hadn’t moved a muscle – he was still hovering over Holas’ right shoulder. A quick glance showed him that Alexander and Tran were sitting on the far side of the deck at the science and tactical consoles.

  The planet quickly filled the screen. White cloud swirls covered the sky over a planet filled with vast oceans. Half a dozen continents could be seen on this side of the planet alone. As they flew closer, a dark swath of colour morphed into an enormous mountain range. Many of the peaks jutted far above the clouds, seeming as though they floated high in the sky.

  There was the barest hint of turbulence as the ship dropped into the planet’s atmosphere. Pete watched as Holas brought the ship around in a soft arc, settling on course for the largest of the island continents. They flashed over the ocean, white crests of waves creeping into view the lower they flew. The continent ahead opened up and a spit of land directly ahead dissolved into a smaller island.

  The island itself seemed to be their destination. Star Runner lost speed and altitude, almost at an alarming rate. The centre of the island snapped into view and Pete could make out clumps of buildings set in hexagonal patterns around a large spire. Interspersed between the buildings, were clear tracts of lands – the landing fields.

  Each field was large enough to easily hold a dozen ships their own size and many more that were smaller. Pete watched as Holas brought them to a holding pattern above one of the fields. Steadily, the ground grew in size as they prepared for landing. Pete noticed four other ships sitting in the field, including a particularly nasty-looking bluish-black one that reminded him of a crab.

  A short shudder shook the ship as she settled onto the ground. The sounds of the ship muted as Holas powered down unneeded systems.

  “Welcome to Dramazan, everyone,” Holas called cheerily as he swung around in his seat. “Shall we go see what the natives have to offer?”