“Let’s have a look around, shall we?” Remy cocked his head toward the exit.
He gave Tosh another minute to finish securing his suit and then led his two crewmates through the ship, to the airlock in the cargo bay. They walked inside, closed the door behind them, and opened the outer door. Stepping out of the ship presented no problems as the Jay had sunk down in the sand, and it was only a foot and half down to the ground.
Remy and Dreyla trekked around the perimeter of the ship to assess the damage from the rough landing. Many panels had flown off. Only one of the three rear blasters was still intact. There was a massive gash in the cargo bay’s outer wall, and some of the armor along the starboard side was crumpled.
“Poor Jay,” Dreyla murmured, smoothing her gloved hand along the ship’s exterior.
“She’s seen worse,” Remy said. “She’ll live to see more.”
Dreyla was now staring at a large deflector array that dangled from the ship. Since it provided protection from everything, ranging from plasma blasts to small asteroid hits, it was kind of important.
“That ain’t gonna be cheap,” Dreyla said with a sigh. “Someone’s gonna have to sell an organ or two.”
“Yeah, but we got a bigger problem,” Remy growled. “Straight ahead.”
She swung around to follow his gaze. A large, six-legged creature was lumbering toward Tosh, who was oblivious, preoccupied with being Tosh.
“What the hell is that?” Dreyla screamed. “TOSH!”
Remy was already speeding toward the doc, raising his pistol.
The blasts jolted Tosh out of his trance. He spun around, looking totally lost until he spotted the oncoming creature. Remy managed to sink half a dozen shots into the beast, which slid in the sand and came to rest at the doctor’s feet.
“Whoa, guess that was kind of a close call?” Tosh panted, staring down at the creature.
Remy’s last shot had been from only three meters away, landing right between the eyes. That was the kill shot and a good thing for Tosh.
The creature resembled a mixture of cow, tiger, and lizard, but its mouth had layers of fangs, and its mane comprised spiky, leather-like flaps of skin. The beast had moved on four legs, and on closer inspection, it seemed the front two were meant solely for shredding its prey.
“Hmm, interesting,” Tosh said. “A hexapod. Or perhaps, more accurately, a quadruped. Mammalian or reptilian—hard to determine.” He poked its leathery skin. Prodded its muscles. “Young, I’m guessing.” Then he pulled back the rubbery lips to examine its grayish teeth and fangs.
When he bent closer to check its nether regions, Remy cleared his throat.
The doctor glanced up at him. “Hermaphrodite, both male and female.”
“To me, it’s an it,” Remy said. “A dead it. Can you just leave it?” He shifted his gaze to the horizon, looking down into a spacious valley of boulders and sand dunes. He stiffened.
“What?” Tosh asked.
“We’re not alone.”
“Well, of course not, this creature…” Tosh broke off.
Remy used his helmet’s magnifier to zoom in on a shiny object some five miles away. Yep, it was a ship, or a craft of some kind. He didn’t recognize the make, but it was quite a bit smaller than the Jay.
“What kind of ship is that?” Dreyla asked, stepping up to them.
“Beats me.” It was weird for Remy to admit this. He thought he knew every ship made. Ever. Again, this did not bode well for where the portal might’ve taken them.
Tosh was back to shutting out the rest of the world, still fascinated by the giant beast.
“We’d better load up on weapons. Between whatever the hell that thing is…” Remy pointed at the dead creature. “…and whoever’s on that ship…”
“You never know when you might need a good blaster,” Dreyla finished his thought.
They both watched as Tosh flipped up the front plate to his helmet.
“Holy crap, Tosh!” Remy yelled, bounding toward the doctor.
Tosh stalled him with an outstretched palm. “It’s OK, Cap. I used the suit’s diagnostics to determine atmosphere. It’s similar to Earth’s.” He flashed his slightly manic grin.
Remy flipped up his own shield and took a tentative breath, then a deeper one. It smelled like the American Southwest… and burned with the dry heat of that region. And for a delicious moment, he could nearly let himself believe... except there was the matter of that giant moon in the sky. Now that they stood outside the ship, he also noticed that the sky itself was different. Half of it, near the humongous moon, had a blue tinge, similar to Earth’s, while the other half was more greenish in color.
He wiped his brow clear of the sweat that had almost instantly formed.
Tosh was consulting his atmo-gauge. “Yeah, it’s also forty-two point seven degrees Celsius—or a hundred and nine degrees Fahrenheit if you’re old school.”
“Pretty toasty,” Remy said, following Dreyla back inside the ship for a few extra weapons.
Remy was in fact old school in just about everything he did, which often mystified his crew, especially Dreyla. Not Tosh, though—the old doc had at least fifty years on him, if not more. He had existed well before the whole Newton’s Gate incident had changed the Earth forever.
As innovative as Tosh could be from a medical standpoint, he definitely had old-school tendencies. Back when they’d first met, he’d even told Remy about his extensive collection of antique vinyl albums, many featuring the kind of music his would-be captain liked. That might’ve influenced Remy’s willingness to hire Tosh onto the Jay’s crew, a decision that had ultimately paid off in dividends. Tosh, after all, was a master doctor once you got past his many quirks.
“OK, guys. We gotta move out,” Remy said, reloading his pistol. “We need to keep the suits on or we’ll fry out here.”
At least the suit’s battery packs would last longer without having to supply oxygen. Maybe this streak of good luck would continue when they went to say hello to the owners of that ship.
Dreyla readjusted the four blades sheathed at various places on her body and took up her plasma rifle like she meant business. Remy nodded approvingly at her badass appearance.
When he shifted his attention to Tosh, Remy’s admiration turned to annoyance. The doc was still prodding the beast, muttering classification details to himself.
“Tosh, forget that lump of meat,” Remy said. “Chances are, whatever’s on that ship is gonna be a helluva lot more fascinating.”
Chapter 9
LILLY
“Mayor,” Lilly said, holstering her pistols, “we don’t have time to question him, but I have the feeling that Yercer Taul might have some answers for us.”
“Taul? You have Taul in custody?” Cansen’s head twisted instinctively in the direction of the door leading to the holding cells.
“Sitting tight in A-15,” she confirmed.
Cansen’s frown deepened and his meaty forehead crinkled. “Then he can’t be responsible. The man’s got the perfect alibi. You.”
“Yeah, I was thinking it was more likely his boss,” she replied.
Letting that theory sink in, she brushed past him toward her office door. Out in the hall, she narrowly avoided colliding with Brand, who was carrying a massive MZ-99 rifle that looked way too big for her slender frame. The blaster had enough power to penetrate a concrete wall. It was so bulky that it wasn’t practical to carry. And Lilly recalled Brand’s previous disastrous escapade with hefty weaponry.
“Really?” Lilly asked her, scanning her deputy’s uniform for any other accessories.
“Uh, you said code one.” Brand balanced the blaster in one hand as if to demonstrate its portability. Her perfectly rounded brows hiked up. “Can’t hurt.”
Brand always packed the heavy-duty guns, most of which nobody in the department had ever used. Brand also liked playing with the station’s explosives. Lilly reflected that maybe she should have another look at her newest deputy’
s psych eval.
“I can leave it on the drop ship if I have to,” Brand said with downcast eyes.
“Oh, fine, bring it,” Lilly snapped.
They entered the staff room, where everyone appeared to be ready—a gratifying sight. Every officer wore the full uniform and was armed to the hilt, albeit with less showy weapons than Brand.
“Sheriff, what’s going on?” Davis asked, sliding in beside Brand in a way that smacked of shared intimacy. Which wasn’t ideal, but Lilly had learned to choose her battles.
All eyes were glued on her now. This was going to be her biggest test since she’d taken up the job. She felt personally responsible for the shipment of drugs, just as she felt responsible for the safety of these deputies standing before her. It wasn’t going to be “a walk in the park”—as Tim used to say before every perilous mission.
Tim. She missed him so much now. Was he in some mysterious dimension, gazing down on this scene, yelling words of advice she couldn’t hear? Nah, she didn’t believe in an afterlife. It was just her mind reaching out for a crutch in a time of need.
“Somebody might be jacking our med shipment,” she began. She took wide strides in front of the small crowd of a dozen officers, hoping to project calm reassurance.
“But that’s not today,” Davis pointed out.
She acknowledged him with a wry smile. “Ah, yes. Apparently, the Vox Council moved the shipment up without remembering to tell us.”
As expected, a ripple of shock washed over her audience. Heads were shaking. People whispered to each other. Most of them had family and friends who were afflicted by the devastating disease.
“Who the hell would try to swipe the meds?” Potter’s voice rang out over the murmurs, tight with fury. “Over half the people on this planet need those—” He stopped himself, the answer likely dawning on him.
“Darkbur?” Davis asked.
Lilly shrugged, which caused another wave of speculative glances. Their sense of rage was palpable. Good. They’d need that fury to drive them in what lay ahead.
The comms link crackled loud enough to get everyone’s attention.
“I’m on the roof,” Skully announced.
That was fast. Then again, for all his impudence, he was the best ship mechanic on the planet, so it shouldn’t surprise her.
“OK, everyone up top,” she commanded. “Load up and look sharp. In the name of Naillik, we got a job to do.”
Chapter 10
DREYLA
“What an idiot,” Dreyla said with a gleeful laugh.
In the video she and Tosh were watching, Remy had just faceplanted into a small sand dune. The image had gone still—divided into two blocks of color: half golden sand, half green sky.
Tosh chuckled. “And he bugs me about being stoned.”
“Exactly.” Dreyla shifted her position on the giant, flat boulder and took a drink of water from her suit’s hydration system.
She and Tosh were waiting for Remy to return from his scouting mission. He’d left the two of them here once they’d gotten within eyesight range of the strange ship.
Since the mutiny, the recent space battle, and their crash landing on this unknown world, Remy had become more paternal towards her. Actually, he’d often switch to this mode whenever he sensed real danger. Not that she didn’t appreciate it, but still, she had to put the old man in his place once in a while, to keep him humble. Wasn’t that what teenage “daughters” were supposed to do?
When he’d announced he wanted her to stay with Tosh, she’d told him to piss off. He’d then tried playing the captain card, and when that hadn’t worked, he’d admitted he was worried about Tosh.
At that point, she’d given in. He hadn’t offered her much of a choice. The hike to the ship had been pretty exhausting, and Tosh wasn’t a young man. She felt concerned about him, too. But she’d only agreed to stay behind on the condition that Remy would live-stream his video feed so they could see what was going on.
Hence the sitting on a rock, getting thirstier, and giddier, staring into a screen.
“For your amusement, I just sank up to my knees in sand,” Remy said over the comms.
So that was why he’d faceplanted. Pathetic.
“Are you… alright, Captain?” Tosh inquired, his lips quivering with the effort of not laughing.
“Still recovering my dignity, but other than that, I’m fine.”
“Captain, you lost that a long time ago,” Dreyla said.
Remy was breathing heavily, and the camera image bounced all over the place.
“Hold the camera still,” she instructed, “so we can actually see something. You’re giving us motion sickness here.”
Remy straightened the camera and refocused, offering them a clear view of the ship. Although it had gleamed like a mint-condition craft from afar, up close it looked fairly weathered and wasn’t even a quarter of the Jay’s size. On the other hand, it seemed to have dark matter engines—or some weird version of them.
Dreyla sat up, peering closer. “Captain, zoom in on those rear engines so I can get a better look.”
“You bet.”
She studied the enlarged image, tracing the engines with her fingers.
“What are you thinking?” Remy asked.
“Weird… these look kind of like the engines did when they first invented them,” Dreyla said.
“Do you want me to kick the tires while I’m at it?” Remy asked, zooming back out.
Tosh snorted.
Yet another of their inside jokes that she didn’t get and didn’t particularly feel like asking to have explained to her right now. She was about to change the subject when the words froze in her mouth. Half a dozen figures came running out of the ship. And they were unmistakably human.
She clutched Tosh’s forearm. Remy was still crawling out of the sand, so he hadn’t been spotted. His camera went still, showing the scene from a position closer to the ground. He’d either found a hidey-hole or flattened himself behind a dune. She released a ragged sigh of relief.
Remy’s view was trained on the ship, and while they couldn’t see the figures anymore, the image was burned on her brain. Though not uniformed men, all were sturdy, muscular individuals that you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of.
She’d been expecting something more alien after their encounter with that six-legged monster thing. But they had looked human to her.
“Did you see if they were all armed?” Remy asked, his voice muffled.
“They were,” she answered.
“And they were all human. Or human-looking at least,” Tosh added. “Damn, why didn’t we enable your recorder? I’d love to see them again.”
Remy zoomed in on the shot she and Tosh were watching on the monitor. There was no more movement—just a stationary ship, sand, and sky. Where had they gone?
“I… don’t… like this,” Remy said.
“Hold on, Captain, we’re heading your way.” Dreyla clicked the video screen into its secure slot on the arm of her suit.
“We are?” Tosh asked, making no move to shift his position on the big rock.
“You aren’t,” came Remy’s voice.
Tosh smiled smugly and folded his arms. His gray eyes held a challenge.
Two against one, but she didn’t care. It was six against one where Remy was. Besides, there was no way she’d miss boarding an alien craft. The figures, after all, counted as alien even if they looked human.
“Come on.” She grabbed Tosh by the arm and hoisted him up.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“To the captain. And don’t tell me you’re not interested in exploring that ship a little closer, not to mention the men themselves.”
Tosh shrugged mildly. Scientific curiosity would always win out with him.
“Now hang on a minute—” Remy began.
“You always taught me,” she countered quickly, “that you should never go anywhere without having someone watch your back, right?”
<
br /> Without waiting for his reply, she fixed her weapon into target position and began trudging through the sand in a beeline toward her captain.
Tosh trailed behind, unholstering his own weapon.
After about twenty footsteps, Remy’s unamused voice crackled out of the speaker. “Huh, so now you listen to me?”
Galactic Blues
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OTHER NGU RELEASES
Newton’s Gate provides an opportunity for our authors to write in any genre. As we grow and release, there will be something for everyone.
It’s easy to find other Newton’s Gate work. Every release inside the Newton’s Gate Universe will be listed under the C.J. Clemens name. Many of the releases will have other authors listed as well.
Here are some of the current NGU releases:
The Deliver Mage series (5 book series)
Deliver or Die: A Newton’s Gate Series (The Deliver Mage Book 1)
By Jamie Davis & C.J. Clemens
A dangerous tech warlord. A devious damsel. Is this smuggler mage getting paid or played?
Baltimore, 2055. Ex-special ops agent Kurt Carter refuses to resort to killing any longer. Though this mage isn’t above skirting the law with a little magic to smuggle goods through the interstellar portals and back to Earth, he never expected to use the Newton’s gates on a ransom mission for the ex-wife he can’t seem to forget…
With the help of a trigger-happy sidekick, Kurt has no choice but to break into a government building and steal a mysterious sarcophagus. After his ex throws an unexpected wrinkle into his plan, the smuggler mage must improvise to keep an impatient warlord at bay. Can Kurt save the girl and protect his business all without getting more blood on his hands?
Galactic Blues - Box Set Episodes 1-3: A Newton's Gate Space Opera Adventure (Galactic Blues Box Set) Page 11