‘How big is that ship?’ I asked.
‘Approximately 100 times larger than Liber8tor,’ Ferdy said.
‘Can we break free?’
‘Ferdy suggests a combination of increasing engines to full reverse as well as firing weapons.’
Brodie took the helm while I blasted several shots at the other vessel, but I may as well have been throwing cream puffs at it. The vessel looked like it could survive an atomic blast.
Slowly, a gap opened in the underside, and our ship was drawn into a cargo hold. A vast area the size of a football field, it was empty except for a single object floating in front of our ship. About six feet in height, it was a single column of silver metal with a band of white near the top. Here, a red dot slid from side to side—an eye. It was a robot.
We peered at the metal creature, waiting for it to do something, but it remained motionless in mid-air, its eye coolly regarding us.
‘We’ve been brought here for a reason,’ Brodie said. ‘I think we should go out.’
‘Ferdy,’ I said. ‘Can you detect anything from that robot...thing?’
‘Ferdy is not picking up any readings from the device.’
We peered through the window at the landing bay. Nothing moved except for the single red eye of the robot.
Brodie let out a hiss of impatience. ‘We need to go out there,’ she said.
‘Okay,’ I said, ‘but if we get blasted into a million pieces, I’m blaming you.’
‘Friend Axel,’ Ferdy said. ‘Blame will be impossible to assign if you and Brodie are reduced to a million pieces of—’
‘It’s a joke, Ferdy.’
‘Oh.’
We disengaged the lower boarding ramp and edged down to the landing bay. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but this was a breathable atmosphere. Was that coincidence? Or did this creature know we needed air to breathe?
‘What will we say?’ Brodie muttered to me out of the corner of her mouth.
I cleared my throat. ‘Take me to your leader!’ I said.
Brodie groaned.
Everyone’s a critic!
The robot turned and started moving away from us. A doorway slid open, and it paused in the entrance as if waiting for us to follow.
‘I guess that’s an invitation,’ Brodie said.
‘I guess so.’
We followed it down a corridor that ran the entire length of the ship. The floor and walls were smooth. If doors were leading off the sides, the joins were so smooth they were invisible.
The robot moved silently ahead of us. The only sound was the tread of our feet. Whatever engines were running the ship were silent. There was no indication of any air conditioning, or any vents at all, for that matter. How air moved around this vessel was as much a mystery as everything else.
Reaching the end, a door slid open, and the robot continued into a vast semicircular chamber. An astronavigation map covered the opposite wall. Before it stood a man, facing away from us with his hands behind his back. He wore a black suit and was bald.
Brodie gasped. ‘That’s not possible,’ she said. ‘That’s not...’
The man turned to us.
‘It is,’ I said. ‘It’s Twenty-Two.’
Chapter Eight
‘Wow,’ Chad said. ‘This is just, well, wow.’
It took a lot to impress Chad, but standing on the sandy soil of an alien world did it. Two tiny moons clung to the horizon of the pink sky. The soil was deep red, almost rusty. It was hard to believe anything grew in it, but tiny tufts of grass—or something that looked like grass—sprouted between the rocks.
It was humid, and a strange smell like incense filled the air. But now wasn’t the time to admire the scenery. Chad hit his comm bracelet. ‘Ferdy,’ he said. ‘What’s Dan’s condition?’
‘His vitals are down by three percent,’ Ferdy said.
‘We need to get moving.’ Chad turned to Mister Okada. ‘How do we find one of these villages?’
‘The people of Printara usually live near rivers. They catch fish and gather food from the land.’
‘So they’re a primitive people?’
‘Quite the contrary. There was a war on Printara ten thousand years ago that reduced much of the planet to a radioactive wasteland. It was by using the murdle flower that they were able to survive the toxic radiation.’
‘They never rebuilt their civilization?’
‘They did, but differently. It was their technology they did not rebuild: they had already seen what it could do.’
Mister Okada had spotted a river to the east just before landing. Asking Ferdy to notify them if there was a change in Dan’s condition, Chad took the lead. Within minutes they were descending a hill into a thick forest. The trees were tough, like palm trees, but they were so dark green, they looked almost black. The canopy closed in around them, blocking out the heat.
Quinn drew close to Chad. ‘I know how worried you must be,’ she said. ‘But we’ll find this plant and save Dan.’
‘We’ll save Dan,’ Chad said. ‘You just get us the plant.’
‘Why do you have to be so distrustful?’
‘Why do you have to be so deceitful?’
‘I had to lie to Axel to save my father!’ she hissed. ‘You would have done the same!’
‘I don’t have a father!’ Chad snapped. ‘Or not one I remember.’
‘Well, I’m sorry your life has been so miserable!’ Quinn said, rolling her eyes. ‘Now, I understand why you’re so painful.’
Painful?
The Chad—painful?
Chad frowned. He had never thought of himself like that. ‘You should try having your memory wiped,’ he grunted. ‘And being on the run from The Agency.’
‘You think it’s been a picnic for us?’ Quinn said. ‘No one wiped my memory, but I’ve been on the run my entire life. The Bakari don’t take kindly to their people leaving them. And procreating with humans.’
‘It sounds like the Bakari doesn’t like anyone.’
‘Their philosophy was to stay out of the affairs of other worlds, but they still wanted to help if they thought a species had potential.’
‘Potential?’ Chad was about to argue but thought better of it. Although the human race had achieved great things, it still had a long way to go. Wars are still common. We still have hunger. And poverty. ‘I still think we’d be better off if the Bakari had never come.’
‘That might be true,’ Quinn said. ‘But we wouldn’t know of the Tagaar if it weren’t for the Bakari.’
Begrudgingly, Chad nodded. There was some truth in what she was saying. Reaching the edge of the forest, they arrived at a fast-flowing river—crisp, clear water flowing over river stones. Further down, the riverbank was a settlement of earth huts with thatch rooves. Fish lay drying on a timber rack in the sun. A creature, not unlike a dog, lounged in the shadow of a hut. It raised its sleepy head and gave them a curious glance before settling back down.
A canoe made of some palm fronds had been pulled up onto the riverbank. Spears were sunk into the ground. Behind the huts was a flimsy timber enclosure with animals that looked like small horses, but they were gray with two short horns. Beyond this were fields where a crop was being grown, and a small orchard. A curious-looking blue fruit, shaped like a banana, hung from one of the trees.
‘Where is everyone?’ Chad said.
‘Beats me,’ Ebony said. ‘Maybe they’re out hunting.’
Mister Okada turned around, looked past them, and smiled. Following his gaze, Chad saw almost a dozen men, well over six feet in height, thin and brown-skinned, with mustard yellow eyes. Naked except for a loin-cloth, they each held spears aimed in their direction.
I can take these guys, Chad thought. One good blast of cold and—
Mister Okada seemed to read his mind. ‘Wait,’ he said to Chad. Nodding to the nearest men, he showed them the palms of his hands. ‘I am Okada,’ he said. ‘And you are?’
None of the men spoke. Swallowing, Cha
d stared back at them, but his stomach was twisting with tension.
They can see inside me.
The idea came from nowhere as if he had been hit with a bat. They can see inside me. It was an irrational thought, but he couldn’t shake it.
‘I am Indari.’
The voice—deep and melodious—came from a woman behind them. Over seven feet tall, she had a long, narrow nose, wide eyes, and broad lips. Despite her alien appearance, Chad still found her strangely beautiful.
Ebony spoke up. ‘Are you in charge?’ she asked.
‘We have no such hierarchy here,’ Indari said. ‘Our society is built on equality and need.’
‘We need your help,’ Mister Okada said.
‘You have a friend who is sick.’
‘How do you know?’ Quinn asked.
‘The only reason strangers come to Printara is for the murdle flower. The radiation sickness has killed many over the years.’
‘We don’t want our friend to die,’ Chad said. Saying the words sounded strange. He always gave Dan a hard time, but it didn’t mean he didn’t care about him. ‘He’s like a brother to us.’
‘How sick is he?’
‘Very.’
‘Then we must act quickly.’
The village, which had been so deserted a few minutes before, had miraculously come to life. They passed two men who were returning with dead lizards slung over their shoulders. A group of women cooked seeds over a fire while one nursed a crying baby. Under the shade of a tree, a couple weaved a cloth on a narrow loom. Strange music, a mixture of a flute and banging sticks, drifted on the breeze.
‘Why do the Tagaar leave you alone?’ Ebony said. ‘Is it because you have the murdle flower?’
‘The flower grows best here on Printara,’ Indari said. ‘But no—the Tagaar fear us.’
Chad frowned. Why would the Tagaar fear a primitive people? The Tagaar could wipe out the inhabitants of the planet in a day. He wondered if the Printara had some hidden weaponry.
‘The Tagaar place great trust in legends and ancient stories,’ Indari said, as they followed the riverbank away from the village. ‘An ancient story tells that their people and ours will always be linked. Breaking that link will bring about their destruction.’
‘So that’s why they leave you alone,’ Chad said.
‘That—and they fear our precognitive abilities. Our people have long had dreams of the future.’ They reached a grove shaded by a thick canopy of trees where a thin stream fed into the river. Indari’s eyes fixed on Chad. ‘Three days ago, I dreamed of you and your friends.’
‘Really?’ Chad said, his throat dry. ‘What did you dream?’
‘I dreamed of one family, split into many. Some would fly to our village in search of the murdle flower. The family would reunite, but one would discard their body to sail the endless night.’
Sail the endless night? Did Indari mean...?
‘Someone will die?’ Ebony cut in. ‘Who?’
Indari shook her head. ‘I do not know,’ she said. ‘The dream did not tell me.’
The native woman knelt down and yanked handfuls of yellow flowers that grew at the side of the stream. ‘Give these to Dan,’ she said. ‘He will recover from the radiation sickness.’
Chad was dying to ask the woman more about her dream, but she pointed them down a path that she said would take them back to their ship. Grudgingly, Chad led the others away, his mind consumed by her words.
Could she be right? Chad wondered. But precognition is just a myth. There’s no such thing. Except Ferdy sometimes seemed to know weird things about the future.
By the time they reached Liber8tor, he’d made up his mind that she had constructed the story out of her head. ‘I hope this flower works,’ Chad said to Mister Okada. ‘Because I don’t have any faith in that woman.’
‘Why not?’
He explained his doubts about her fortune-telling ability. ‘And we’ve met plenty of modified humans,’ Chad said. ‘None of them have had foresight.’
‘That may be the case,’ Mister Okada said. ‘Although there is another mystery.’
‘What?’
‘She said, Give these to Dan. He will recover from the radiation sickness.’
‘So? What’s so strange about that?’
‘How could she know about Dan?’ Mister Okada said, frowning. ‘We never mentioned his name?’
Chapter Nine
‘Back from the brink,’ Dan crowed. ‘And better than ever!’
Chad sighed. ‘Did you have to recover this quickly?’ he asked. ‘You were easier to get on with when you were unconscious!’
Everyone laughed. A day had passed, and they were sitting in Liber8tor’s galley. Mister Okada had processed the flowers into a viscous liquid that he had injected into Dan. Within minutes, Dan’s color had improved. An hour later, he was breathing easier, and was wolfing down food like he hadn’t eaten in a week.
‘I’m sure you all missed me,’ Dan said. ‘And how would you pilot Liber8tor without me?’
‘I did an outstanding job!’ Ebony said.
Ferdy spoke up. ‘Dan would have been impressed by Ebony’s flying skills,’ he said. ‘She landed the craft safely—’
‘Thank you, Ferdy.’
‘—although it was upside down.’
‘That’s funny, Ferdy.’
‘Thank you, friend Ebony.’
Finishing their meal, Mister Okada produced a handful of components from his pocket. ‘I’m afraid we still have some problems with the engines,’ he said. ‘Dan’s brave attempt to save us stopped the ship from exploding, but several parts were damaged.’
‘Can’t we just fix them?’ Chad asked. Ebony had her powers of transmutation, and Dan could manipulate metals. Wasn’t that enough?
‘I’m afraid not,’ Mister Okada said. ‘These parts are quite complex. Only a few light-years from here is a market world called Gastara. They’ll have the parts.’
Chad sighed. ‘What about Axel and Brodie?’ he asked. ‘We’ve already wasted enough time, and we need to meet them at Tagaar.’
‘And we’ll do that, but we still need to fix the engines. Otherwise, we risk a catastrophic failure.’
‘Dad,’ Quinn said. ‘By catastrophic, you mean...’
‘Blowing up the ship? I’m afraid so.’
An hour later, Liber8tor was back in flight. Chad settled in his seat. It was good seeing Dan back piloting the ship. Ebony had done a great job, but Dan was the expert.
Dan glanced at him. ‘What?’ he said.
‘What do you mean what?’
‘Why are you staring at me?’
Chad sighed. He sidled over to Dan’s side. ‘I’m just glad to see you back on board,’ he said. ‘We were worried.’
‘I’m touched.’
‘No,’ Chad said. ‘Really.’
He was feeling irked now. Here he was, trying to have a deep and meaningful conversation with Dan, and he was getting rejected.
Oh well, Chad thought. I tried.
‘We need you, Dan,’ he said.
‘Oh, thanks.’
‘We need someone to use as a human shield—otherwise, the bad guys shoot at us!’
Roaring with laughter, Chad returned to his seat. He was relieved to see that Dan looked ready to explode.
Ah yes, he thought. The universe is back to normal!
Quinn, at her seat on the side, shook her head in amazement.
‘Don’t you ever stop?’ she asked Chad.
‘Not if I can help it.’
An hour later, they dropped out of FTL drive around a mottled blue and green world. Three moons clung to the horizon. Two of them were gray rocks in space, but the third had a hazy indigo atmosphere. Chad peered down at the planet below. Much of it was covered in vast oceans and verdant forests, but the east coast of one continent was gray and brown.
‘That’s the Gastara market,’ Mister Okada said.
‘How is it you know all these places?’ Chad
asked.
‘I visited them many years ago, long before I began my life on Earth. I’ve been able to keep a tenuous connection by listening to transmissions received via subspace. That’s how I followed the developments in the Tagaar war.’
Chad nodded. He supposed he should feel grateful that Mister Okada had stayed on Earth. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have known about the threat posed by the Tagaar. Still, he didn’t trust Mister Okada. The Bakari had given them superpowers, but at a cost.
‘I’m taking us in to land,’ Dan said.
Within minutes, Liber8tor was hurtling through the atmosphere. Whereas Ebony had been cautious in controlling the ship, Dan flew as if he were born to do it. Chad caught his sister’s eye.
‘Makes me look like an amateur,’ she said.
‘You did great,’ Chad said. ‘Better than anyone else could have done.’
It was like looking down at a giant map as the surface grew closer. As Dan headed for the east coast, Chad made out a rambling town.
Most of the buildings were low-lying white structures with minarets rising from the corners. They looked ancient. Huddled among these were hundreds of market stalls. The desert surrounding the town was filled with hundreds of spaceships. Some were circular, others cigar-shaped, rectangular, or cubes. Silver or blue metal covered most, but several appeared to be covered in some kind of skin.
‘It is a skin,’ Mister Okada confirmed when Ebony commented on it. ‘Grown in a lab; it’s an organic covering for the ship.’
‘And inside?’ Ebony said.
‘The interiors are also grown, and molded around structural supports.’
‘A living ship. Amazing.’
Dan brought Liber8tor down in an open space a mile from the city. An organic ship was on one side with a flying saucer on the other. Leaving the ship, they saw an elderly alien man warily approaching them. He looked human, but his nose was flat and spread across his face. He held his hand close to a gun that he wore at his waist.
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 83