Wrath of the Void Strider (2 page)

“Pardon?”

“The halls of your mining complex have begun to stir, and I must not risk further discovery!”  Leaning in close, he said, “Tell no one of what you witnessed.  Not even your children.  If my intervention should be revealed, the ithirals will accelerate their plans of attack.”  His features softened.  “Frank, you must trust me.  I know I have given you no reason to, but neither do you have any choice in the events that are unfolding before you.  Your son and daughter will be returned to you, this I vow.”

He clenched his jaw.  “Will we even recognize them?”

With a reassuring nod, Voran said, “I have only unlocked them.  Who they become is up to you.”  He reached toward a nearby stream of cubes, prompting two of them to glow faintly blue. Unconsciousness claimed Lily and Francisco before either could respond.

Voran easily caught them before they struck the deck.  Their bodies slowly floated upward and stopped at his waist.  He tapped several more cubes, turning hundreds of them the same soft blue, and he guided his visitors’ dormant bodies from his lab toward the lift.  Descending to their habitat level, he beheld the halls of the mining facility, once more frosted completely over.  He breathed in the cool air and smiled slightly before leading Lily and Francisco back to their room.  He set them down on the bed and drew the blanket over them.

“Rest soundly,” he whispered.  “It is the calm before the storm.”

Chapter 01

Six years later…

Gavin Santiago searched the shelves in front of him, looking for a specific gasket within the rows of sloped, open parts boxes.  His heart raced.  He knew he was in the right area, but the right box eluded him.  Forcing himself to calm down, he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.  He was a handsome young man, with dirty blonde, finger-styled hair and coffee brown eyes.  Of average height and strong build, he wore black jeans and a blue uniform shirt with his last name sewn onto it.

From behind him, on the other side of the counter, he heard his boss sneer, “What’s the matter?  You’re really too stupid to find one gasket?”  He pointed toward the shelves Gavin was already standing at.  “Come on, if it was a snake, it would’ve bitten you.”

His eyes fierce, Gavin gritted his teeth, and he spun around.  Glaring at the stout man standing across from him, several colorful responses flashed through his mind.  Shaggy, pale gray hair framed his haggard, bespectacled face.  “Bill, I’m not stupid.”

“You useless
colo
.  Either you’re stupid, or you’re lazy, and I personally think you’re stupid.  Colossally stupid.”  He watched Gavin clench his fists.  “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me, or are you going to get me my part?”

Gavin snarled, “You know what?  Get it yourself.”  He picked up a starship landing gear faring and hurled it at his supervisor with all his might.  It barely missed striking his forehead as Bill jumped away.  “I quit!”  His ears were hot, and his heart pounded.  “I
quit
!”  He stormed away, scooped up his backpack as he headed for the back door.

Amidst Bill’s derisive laughter, a slim, naturally redheaded woman sprang from her chair at the nearby computer station and chased after Gavin.  She caught up as he marched onto the tarmac, under a gloomy sky.  “Gavin, wait!”  She rested her hand on his shoulder, though he shrugged away from the contact.  “Don’t let him get to you.  Come on, you need this job!”

With narrowed eyes, Gavin stopped suddenly and regarded her sidelong.  “No, Gwen.  What I need is to be treated with respect.”  He squared his jaw.  “Bill’s a racist prick, and he abuses everybody under him.  I don’t understand why no one stands up to him!”

“You’ve got to grow thicker skin.  He doesn’t mean it.”  She huffed.  “It’s just how he is.  No one takes it personally, except you.”

“Well, that’s wrong, and he can go screw himself.”

With a sober stare, Guinevere gripped Gavin’s shoulders.  “Fine.  You’re quitting, I get that, but you’re at least going to get another job first, right?”

Gavin crossed his arms.  “No, I’m gone.  I’ll start looking for another job as soon as I get home.”

“I can’t support us both, Gavin.”

“What are you saying?”

Fighting back tears, she whispered, “You know exactly what I’m saying.”

Aghast, Gavin nodded slowly and whispered, “So, if I quit, you’re breaking up with me?”

“I don’t have a choice.”  Wiping at her nose, she said, “Please, think it through.”

“No, I get it.”  He swallowed visibly.  “At least I can get my scholarship back.”  He squeezed her hands and said, “Goodbye, Gwen.”

“Gavin,
please
!”

He turned and walked away.  Not until he exited the front doors of Chemwald Space Flight Center did the tears begin to swell.  He entered a code into his phone, and an automated cab quietly rolled up to the curb.  As he stooped inside, he finally let himself cry.

It wasn’t long before he arrived at the Chemwald Skyplex.  It was a sprawling city unto itself, now softly and colorfully aglow under a haze of rain.  Retail centers and parking bays sprouted from soaring spires, blanched petals on concrete stems, and water cascaded from their edges. Thick steam rolled forth in huddles from massive circular vents nestled regularly throughout the campus, defiant in the face of the downpour. A tower of hovering fast food signs spiraled up through the clouds, directing the slow waltz of sky cars seeking momentary harbor.

At the campus’s southern edge, a bulky municipal shuttle slowly lifted off, visible just past the handrails that enclosed a Metro Planetary shuttle station.  The passenger vessel was long, with a tail fin and guide wings mounted to structural hull plates.  Painted light gray with parallel red and orange stripes, adorned with warning lamps and brilliant headlights, the sky bus had a decidedly sensible appearance.  Portholes lined both sides of the hull.

Under a vast awning, stripes and chevrons of dim red, orange and yellow light guided passengers to ticket kiosks, storage lockers, and boarding ramps.  Bright blue characters danced across a display board that listed all departures and arrivals for the next two days, suspended in front of a curved wall. A young boy passed his hand through the display, giggled, and his older sister quickly nudged him away.

The ticket kiosk beeped, and Gavin claimed his pass; its transparent face glowed faintly green as it registered his gene key and deducted the credits from his account.  He absently noted a second shuttle’s flight lights as it too headed for the sky.

He crossed the grated floor, kept just under the overhang of a curved wall, and when he had reached its end, hurried to the shelter of a circular awning.  It had been mounted to an arm that was supposed to automatically adjust its angle to meet rainfall directly, but it had been years since this one worked, if it had ever worked at all.  A young ospyrean, his head feathers vibrant against the pale down covering his skin, took up most of one covered bench.  Three others, all of them human, took up the other.  Enjoying the rain upon their slick, mottled skin, a pair of octopus-like ghallooms stood several paces off, discussing in excited tones.

Engines thumped rhythmically off to his left and Gavin involuntarily glanced toward them.  He smiled slightly.  A light gray behemoth lumbered close, and rain sizzled in sheets upon the shuttle’s plasma aura.  It butted up against an airlock as its directional thrusters swung down and the plasma sheath faded away.  The light over the boarding passage turned green.

Gavin secured his backpack straps and shuffled to form a line with the others.  A heavy circular hatch rolled away from the nose, and a pilot with hawk-like features stared fixedly ahead as his passengers boarded.  Gingerly, Gavin stepped along the crowded aisle and took a seat near the back.  He set his pack between his legs, stared out the window and unbuttoned his blue work shirt to reveal a plain gray T-shirt underneath.  The transit vessel detached from its clamps and glided up into the atmosphere.  Warning lights flashed as they passed a soaring tower, and for a moment, Gavin’s reflection stared back at him from the glass.

With a weary sigh, he sank back and closed his eyes.  For one searing moment his abdomen ached, and he traced a scar through his jeans.  He winced and settled back into his chair.  “That’s quite enough out of you,” he muttered to himself.

“Excuse me?” said a woman to his right.

Gavin opened his eyes and glanced her way.  “Oh!  Sorry, I didn’t hear you sit down.”

She smiled demurely and tucked a wisp of platinum hair behind her ear.  “No apology is required,” she answered.  “Are you well?”

He nodded and chuckled, “Yeah, I just get these cramps sometimes.”

“I understand,” she brightly replied and studied him a moment.  “Your destination is somewhere in New California City.  I have been so curious to visit.”

“Good call,” Gavin noted, and he straightened somewhat.  “How’d you know?”

“Thank you for your favorable opinion of me, but my observational skills are far from extraordinary.”  With a playful wink, she leaned closer and prodded Gavin’s overshirt as she added, “The way your clothes have faded in the wash, and the slight smell of pine are clear indicators.”  Gavin nodded appreciatively, and she beamed.  “Returning to my previous assertion, I have always wanted to visit.”

“You should go,” he suggested, “tonight.  I’ll show you around.”

She smiled all the brighter.  “I suddenly very much desire to do just that, but sadly, I cannot.”

He regarded her curiously.  “Why not?”

“I have a work party to attend.  We had an especially lucrative fiscal quarter.”  Her eyes glowed briefly of white just as Gavin was about to invite himself along.  “Oh, I am not human,” she grinned, “I am byriani.”

“Oh.”  With a dry chuckle, Gavin sank back into his chair.  “Nice.”

“It is a costume party.  I have been rehearsing this form for two weeks,” she continued, “and I am rather proud of myself that you took me for one of your own.  I did not mean to offend, of course.  I know there are those who take great offense at species imitation.  Have I offended you?”

“Not at all.  I’m impressed, really.  Usually you byrianis are pretty easy to spot.  Not you, though.  You got all the details right.”  He glanced sidelong toward her.  “Of course, you could… actually be a man.  I have no way of knowing for sure.”

She replied, “I suppose you do not,” and gazed upward as she considered.  Cheerfully, she placed her hand in Gavin’s grip.  “I am Elesci,” she announced and squeezed firmly.  “I assure you I am a female of my species, so do not feel ashamed at the arousal you experienced.”

Gavin cleared his throat and returned the gesture, as a recorded voice announced the shuttle’s arrival at the Risen Hills station.  “I’m Gavin.”

“Perhaps we will meet again?” she hoped.

“I’m here every day for the next four years,” he said.  “Assuming I get my scholarship back.”

She appeared startled, and her eyes widened.  “Oh,” she whispered.  “Your truths have changed my truth.”

“Say again?”

“I must return.”  Lingering for a moment more, she withdrew her grip before making her way to the exit.  Docking clamps rang through the sky bus.  The hatchway rolled aside, and Elesci was gone.

With a puzzled smile, Gavin muttered, “What was that about?”  He allowed his thoughts to wander.

An hour passed before he arrived at his destination.  He thanked the pilot, prompting the hawkish fellow to tap the sign that clearly read, “Do Not Converse with the Pilot,” and disembarked behind a few others.  Unhurried, he found his way through a gated parking lot to his silver OmniVoy Strive.  It was a domed, single-rider commuter car.  Pronged fenders sprouted from its base, shrouding fully positionable wheels, and “Property of Terran Galactic University Student Housing Dept.” had been emblazoned upon their flanks.  He passed his wrist over the gene key reader, and it beeped happily.  The bubble hatch lifted upward as if celebrating his arrival.

With a bit more cheer, he sat down inside and firmly gripped the action wheel.  His little car came silently alive.  Recessed lighting and bright meters gave the only sign it was ready to move, and he guided it out onto the streets.

Chapter 02

The mess hall was quiet.  Several steel tables had been spaced evenly apart from one another, attached to their benches.  Recessed lights shone dimly overhead, causing the air to feel cooler than it actually was.  On the other side of the far door, the starship’s cook steadily stirred a large pot of stew.  His whistling and the clanking of his ladle reached the mess hall as distant echoes.

“I’m sad to see you go,” said Zerki Ibarra.  She was a woman of average height and athletic build, youthful in appearance, with golden hair and pale blue eyes.  She wore heavy work boots, a white peasant-style blouse under a black utility vest and a pair of tailored black pants.  A thin red stripe ran the length of the outer legs.

The woman across from her lowered her eyes, staring into the surface of the table.  “I’m sad to be going.”  She was petite, with a sweet face, auburn hair and freckles.

“Are you sure you can’t do one more jump?”

With a subtle nod, she looked up at Zerki and said, “I’m very sure, Captain.”  Carefully, she lifted free one of her contact lenses, revealing the irises and conjunctiva beneath.  They were bright red, flooded with blood.  “They’ve been like that for almost a month.”  As carefully, she replaced the lens and wiped at her eye.

Zerki hissed.  “Kendra, oh my god!”  She brushed her hair from her face.  “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“Sometimes it clears up.”  She sniffed.  “I didn’t want to go.”

Zerki got up and walked around to sit beside Kendra.  She pulled her into a tight embrace.  “Well, that was dumb.”

Tearfully, Kendra laughed.  “I know, right?”

“Got any retirement plans?”

Kendra sat up a bit straighter.  “I qualify for a disability pension through the Navigators’ Union, so that’s good.  I was thinking of getting some land on New Falkirk.  I have family out there, and some old friends live nearby on one of the agri-worlds.”