Space Rocks! (20 page)

B
ecky eased up the vertical thrusters. Slowly, slowly, the Xotonian starfighter began to float upward.

“It's working!” I cried. We were hovering about five meters off the floor of the hangar now.

“And forward thrusters,” came Nicki's voice over the com. Becky nudged the throttle, and the ship began to slowly float forward.

“Now stop,” said Nicki, and we did.

“And roll.”

Becky gently wiggled the control stick right then left. The whole ship rolled from side to side.

“Pitch,” said Nicki.

Becky pushed the stick forward, bringing the nose of the ship down. She pulled it backward, bringing the nose up.

“And yaw,” said Nicki.

Becky twisted the stick, and the nose of the ship turned right and left.

“Looking good,” said Becky. “I'm bringing her down now.” Ever so gently, Becky set the ship back onto the floor of the hangar. She really was a good pilot.

It had taken many hours, but the third starfighter was finally online.

For the first time in centuries, the iridium hangar beneath the ruins was alive with activity. It had become part workshop, part command center.

Nicki had been coding furiously—sometimes on both holodrives at once—ever since we'd arrived. Four Observers, including Ghillen, had accompanied us. Of all Xotonians, their understanding of our ancient technology was the greatest. They offered advice and assisted Nicki where they could, especially in creating a communication link between the ships and the Observatory.

A tiny screen in the cockpit crackled on, and Ydar's face appeared on it. “Hello, this is High Observer Ydar. Do you read me?”

“Hey, Ydar!” I said. Ydar frowned.“I mean, greetings, High Observer,” I said. “We read you loud and clear.”

“All this . . . broadcasting,” chuckled Ydar. “I'm worried I'm going to develop a taste for it. Anyway, your ships will have our eyes and ears here in Core-of-Rock and on the surface as well, if you need them.”

“Is it possible to contact the human ship,
Phryxus
?”

“I've tried. But so far, no luck. Ridian is still jamming all our external communications,” said Ydar. “I'll keep at it, though. If I can get a hold of the humans, I'll patch them through directly. Ydar out.”

The time of the invasion was approaching fast. Again and again we discussed and refined the plan. We would wait until Ridian had landed the troops on Gelo with his triremes. Then, once the Vorem were fully engaged in our tunnels, we would launch a surprise attack against the unprotected battle cruiser. We hoped that if we hit it hard and fast, we could take out the ship's hyperdrive and communications systems.

Hollins would fly the first fighter, and Nicki would be his gunner. She didn't seem excited to put her Xenostryfe III skills to the ultimate test, but this was mitigated by a strange eagerness to spend time alone with Hollins. Very odd.

Becky would fly the second fighter with Kalac on board. My originator would not be the gunner, however. That role would be filled by—you guessed it—me. Kalac protested at first, until I performed a quick demo of my Xenostryfe capabilities on Nicki's holodrive. Kalac conceded that I was qualified. I got a score of 1,672,890, a personal best.

Despite a total lack of experience, two brave Xotonians—Ornim and Chayl—had volunteered to fly the final starfighter.

Ever the optimist, Hollins hoped to give them a crash course in piloting. But in the end, they simply couldn't get the hang of it. While Hollins was trying to explain some basic astronautic concept, Chayl lost control of the ship and rammed it into one of the walls of the hangar, nearly killing us all. The ship suffered only minor damage, and no one was hurt, but it was the end of their flight training.

“Maybe if I had two months,” sighed Hollins. “But either of them in the cockpit . . . is going to be more of a liability than a help.”

“If only Nicki had some sort of flight simulator game on her holodrive, then maybe I would know how to fly a spaceship right now,” I said. “Instead I only know how to race cars in endless circles in ‘Indianapolis.'”

“Maybe that'll come in handy one day,” said Hollins, shrugging. He sounded doubtful.

So Ornim and Chayl reluctantly returned to Core-of-Rock on the back of an usk-lizard. There, they could at least contribute to the general defense.

I worried about the Xotonian city. Even if we succeeded in disabling or destroying the battle cruiser, Core-of-Rock could still be overrun with Vorem legionaries. I hoped Hudka and Little Gus would remain safe.

Little Gus had protested mightily when Hollins had insisted he stay behind.

“Come on, man! I want to help. Just let me help,” Little Gus had said, standing in the doorway of my dwelling. “I'm old enough. I'll be eleven soon!”

“I'm sorry Gus,” Hollins had said quietly.

And Little Gus had stared at the ground, tears shining on his cheeks. Hudka tried to comfort him, but when Nicki told them we'd need to take both holodrives with us, they both began to wail in despair. For Hudka and Little Gus, there would be no video games for the duration of the battle. War is hell, as the human expression goes.

Indeed, Nicki was now using both holodrives. The ships were operational. Communications were online. But there was one thing left to do.

Ghillen and the other three Observers were working with her to modify Becky's starfighter. On the nose of the ship, with the help of welding torches and wires and Jalasu Jhuk's ancient manual, they had mounted the Q-sik.

T
he hatches of the triremes fell open, and dozens of Vorem legionaries poured out. They wore heavy segmented black armor and carried blaster rifles. They were a fighting force that had conquered countless worlds before. Across the blue-gray surface of Gelo they marched, bearing the battle standard of General Stentorus Sovyrius Ridian. It was as grim as you might have expected: three black suns on a field of red.

In tense silence, we watched the invasion on a view-screen. The feed had been piped to the hangar from the surface, via the Observatory.

Ridian had only landed five of his ten triremes for the invasion. The other five remained in orbit near his ship.

“Well,” sighed Hollins, “I guess the battle cruiser won't be unprotected after all.”

“I hope the mighty Daniel Hollins isn't afraid,” said Becky. I couldn't speak for anyone else, but the mighty Chorkle was terrified. To calm my mind, I tried to focus on the memory of Zenyk's face as we won the oog-ball match.

On the screen, a centurion used a handheld scanning device to locate one of our surface hatches. He quickly reported his findings back to a slender Vorem in ornate armor and a heavy crimson cloak, the legate leading the invasion. Was this Ridian's son?

The legate nodded, and the centurion flung the hatch open. Down the Vorem legion marched, into the darkness.

“The Stealth Shield ought to conceal the general underground location of Gelo, but . . . it won't be long now,” said Kalac.

Periodically, the Observers changed the view-screens to different feeds. At several points on the surface, the same scene was repeating itself. The Vorem were invading the Gelo cavern system from five separate entrances.

“I guess it's time for us to get ready,” said Becky. “You know, when I said I wanted to be a pilot, fighting in an alien space war wasn't exactly what I had in mind.”

“Yeah. Reporter might be a safer profession right about now,” I said.

“Right now, I'd settle for plain old seventh grader. Don't tell Hollins, but I'm completely terrified.”

“Well, growing up is doing what you have to do. Even when you're afraid,” I offered.

“Where did you get that?” asked Becky. “Seriously, Chorkle. That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard in my life.”

Becky and I walked toward her newly modified starfighter. On the nose of her ship, the glowing tetrahedron of the Q-sik spun slowly. The device had been connected to special controls inside. Kalac stood and stared at it.

“Chorkle, please translate for Becky,” said my originator. “To break through that battle cruiser's energy shields, I will be using a higher power setting for the Q-sik. After we aim it, it will take at least a minute to spin up to its greatest speed before it can fire.” I repeated this in human. Becky nodded.

This was the nearest I'd been to the Q-sik yet. I could feel the power radiating from it in dizzying waves. The closer I got, the more my skin tingled. It felt like passing through the Stealth Shield times a hundred.

“Firing this weapon brings unintended consequences,” said Kalac. “I realize that now. The only thing worse than using it again would be letting the Vorem have it.”

I hoped that was true. After all, this whole thing had been my idea. “It's not too late,” I said. “Maybe we could destroy the Q-sik instead. That way, no one could ever use it again.”

“I think that was Jalasu Jhuk's ultimate goal,” said Kalac. “It left such extensive notes on the Q-sik not so that we would know how to use it as a weapon but to help one day destroy it.”

“So does the manual explain how?”

“No. Apparently Jhuk never figured it out. Otherwise it would have done so a long time ago,” said Kalac. “According to Jhuk's notes, damaging the Q-sik in any way could release the energy contained within. When we fire it—when you see its power—you'll understand just how catastrophic that would be.”

“Kalac, I don't understand. If Xotonians didn't create the Q-sik, and the Vorem didn't either . . . then who did?”

Kalac shook its head. “The manual offers no clue. It seems we're all starting to realize that there is much in the universe that we don't know. It makes what is certain all the more valuable. . . .”

“What do you mean?”

“Chorkle . . . I'm so sorry I said I wished I'd never originated you. It was a lie.”

“I know,” I said.

“Originating you was the greatest thing I ever did,” said Kalac. And it hugged me close. Tears welled in all of our eyes.

At last, Kalac nodded. It turned and boarded the starfighter. Becky cleared her throat. She'd been standing beside us the whole time.

“Wow, you Xotonians sure get emotional,” said Becky. “I can't imagine how much you're going to blubber at their wedding.” She pointed at Nicki and Hollins. They stood together on the other side of the hangar, laughing.

“Seriously, though,” said Becky. “Good for those crazy kids.” She was smiling.

“Wait, what? Oh. But I thought you and Hollins, uh . . .” I said. Human interpersonal dynamics were still mysterious to me. Becky's in particular.

“Chorkle, gross,” she said simply. And she boarded the ship. I followed her.

Becky flopped down in the cockpit and adjusted the seat. Hollins's face appeared on the com screen. He was in the other ship now, and Nicki stood behind him.

“You guys ready?” he said. “Let's do this and then go home.” His voice was calm, and his face was serious.

“Just so I understand the ‘plan'—and I'm using that term loosely,” said Becky, “two children are going to fly a couple of ancient spaceships against an evil alien empire of untold power. Is that it?”

“Yeah, I think that about covers it,” said Hollins.

“One heck of a college entrance essay,” said Becky as she powered up the engines. “FYI, I'm just going to ignore about eighty percent of this stuff.” She indicated the ridiculously complicated array of meters and displays on the instrument panel. Even after working with the ships for the past day, there was still much about the ships we didn't understand.

“Maybe we can figure out the rest of it later,” said Nicki cheerfully, “if we don't die.”

“You're a real ray of sunshine, sis,” laughed Becky. She seemed oddly lighthearted to be only minutes from risking her life in an incredibly dangerous flight mission.

“Wait,” I said, suddenly gripped with panic. “We can't do this. There's no way it will work! It's impossible—”

“Chorkle, it's not impossible,” said Nicki. “‘Believe you can, and you're halfway there.' Didn't Teddy Roosevelt say that, Hollins?”

“Yeah, I—I think he did,” said Hollins, his eyes wide with admiration. “I didn't know you were into T. R. quotes.”

Nicki shrugged and smiled.

Becky rolled her eyes. “Okay. Can we please just fight the Vorem before I throw up? You good, Chorkle?”

I tried to say something, but no words would come out.

“I choose to interpret your silence as a yes,” said Becky.

Ghillen appeared on the com screen. “Opening the hangar bay now,” said the Observer. High above us came a creaking mechanical noise. The hinges of the massive doors slowly swung outward with a rush of air.

I took my seat in the blaster turret as the ship lifted upward on vertical thrusters. The starfighter containing Hollins and Nicki floated up beside us.

Kalac took the controls of the Q-sik in its thol'grazes. “Ack'cer dor,” said my originator. Xotonian for “good luck.”