Coronation: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #5) (26 page)

I woke up in a strange bed with my head throbbing. Reaching up to massage my temples, it seemed to me that my arm had more freedom of motion than normal. And with good reason – I wasn’t wearing a shirt.

I propped myself up on my elbows to look around, wincing at the ache in my chest, ribs, and stomach. I was in a small bedroom, much more modest than what I’d become accustomed to lately. Against a wall was a table on which I saw the Telumem, the Cantillate nut, and a bunch of my other personal possessions; next to the table was a chair with a shirt laid across its back.

Not far from the bed was a large picture window with a magnificent view of the stars. I swung my feet to the floor and stood up. Almost immediately, I got the sensation of motion and realized that I was on a spaceship. Something was going on.

Getting dressed in a hurry, I exited the bedroom and found myself in a spartan living room populated by a couple of lounge chairs and a sofa. I stayed just long enough to spot the door, then headed out.

Outside, I found myself in a corridor with numerous people in the garb of ship’s crew hustling back and forth. Based on my initial trip from Earth, I felt I knew the general layout of Caelesian vessels and headed to where I felt the bridge should be. I found it a few minutes later, having made only one wrong turn en route.

It was a large room, with maybe half a dozen crewmen at their various stations. From the frenzied level of activity, it seemed that we were preparing to take a journey. I glanced towards the captain’s chair and got a surprise; sitting there was Ventrua – the captain from the ship that had initially brought me to Caeles. Standing next to him was Berran, and they seemed to be having an intense conversation in whispered tones. I went over to join them.

Berran, obviously sensing that someone was approaching, looked in my direction.

“You’re awake, my Prince,” he said. “And just in time. We leave in just a few minutes.”

“Leave? For where?” I asked.

“That’s just what I was discussing with Captain Ventrua, as we’ve just left Caeles’ atmosphere. However, now that you are awake, it can be your decision, as this journey is meant for you.”

There was a sorrowful cast to his eyes, and I knew that something was amiss.

“What do you mean this journey is for me?” I asked. “Berran, tell me what’s going on.”

The courier sighed. “So much has happened in the past three days, I hardly know where to begin.”

“Three days!” I shouted. “I’ve been knocked out for three days?”

“Actually, Prince, you’ve been
missing
for the better part of three days.”

“Missing?”

“Yes. You disappeared after going to see Yelere. We were frantic, searching the entire planet for you. And then, earlier today, we received an anonymous message saying that you could be found under a tunnel in a park in the Acropolis. We had nothing to lose by investigating, and you were actually there. We smuggled you back to the castellum, and then onto a transport before finally getting you to this ship. Now, of course, we have to leave.”

“But why?”

“Because of your conviction, Highness.”

“What??!! What conviction?!”

Berran lowered his eyes, almost in embarrassment. “A royal decree was issued for you to report to the Caelesian High Court for trial, judgment, and sentencing.”

“Tr…uh…wh–what?” I closed my eyes and shook my head in confusion. This was going way too fast for me to keep up with – especially with my head still hurting. “Let’s slow this down. What trial are you talking about?”

“Your trial for treason,” Berran replied. “For poisoning the queen.”

My eyes went wide. “Queen Dornoccia’s been poisoned?”

“Yes – allegedly with some type of Earth toxin. There was purportedly evidence at the scene which implicated you, so a warrant was issued to search your quarters in the Castellum Cardinal.”

“Let me guess: they found all kinds of incriminating evidence there.”

“Correct. That’s when the decree was issued for you to report to the High Court. When you failed to appear, you were tried in absentia and found guilty.”

I shook my head in disbelief. I had to give Vicra credit; he had really done a number on me. In three days, I’d gone from a hero who had saved the queen to Public Enemy Number One. No wonder he hadn’t felt the need to kill me. It was a lot more entertaining to simply break me instead.

“Where’s my grandmother?” I asked, suddenly full of concern that Vicra had done something to her as well.

“No one knows,” Berran answered. “The queen had been unconscious since the poisoning – possibly on her deathbed – and your grandmother went to see her. Once there, Princess N’d’go allegedly used her mental powers to incapacitate the guards on duty, and then kidnapped the queen.”

I stared at Berran in shock. How could things have gotten so insane in such a short period of time?

“The current rumor is that your grandmother took Queen Dornoccia as a bargaining chip for you – for your safety.”

“Is that true?” I asked. With the current state of affairs, anything was possible.

“If so, she never confided her plans to me. My only instructions before she disappeared were to find you and get you far from Caeles. I was fortunate to find a ship’s crew that I felt would be loyal, and not turn you in for the reward.”

Berran nodded at Captain Ventrua, who smiled and said, “It’s an honor to serve you, Prince. My crew hasn’t forgotten what you did for us.”

I acknowledged the captain’s words with a nod, then turned back to Berran.

“So, you have no way to get a message to my grandmother?” I asked.

“None. No one knows where she is.”

I frowned, not liking what I’d heard. I had touched my grandmother’s mind, knew what she was like. I was positive she would have left me some indication of what she was doing, some way to reach her.

“That reminds me, Highness,” Berran said. “It’s not from your grandmother, but you did receive a message.”

The courier then held out to me a small glass square, similar in shape to the first lunch invitation I had gotten from Vicra.

I debated on what to do for a second. I wanted to hear what the message said, but I didn’t really want to play it in public. Fortunately, Captain Ventrua saved the day.

“If you like, Prince,” the captain said, pointing to a nearby door, “you can use my meeting room.”

I thanked him and then headed to the door he’d indicated. I went through and then closed it firmly behind me. Now alone, I pressed the requisite corner of the square, which began playing a verbal message in a distorted voice, but one which I clearly recognized as Vicra’s.

“As you might have guessed,” said the message (which was obviously a recording), “I didn’t kill you. There is, however, a price on your head at this point. But as I said before, I like you. That’s why I’ve done my part to help you out. I told your people where to find you, and if they’re at all astute, they’ll have a way to get you off-planet.

“My advice to you? Run – far from Caeles – and never come back. The universe is big, and there are lots of places to hide, lots of places the Caelesian Empire has never heard of. Plus, there’s nothing here for you now.

“Finally, as to your powers, the neural blocker isn’t permanent. Eventually it will wear off and you’ll get your abilities back – probably in…oh, I don’t know…eighty years?”

I ground my teeth as Vicra began laughing. He had essentially robbed me of everything: my powers, my friends, my family, my future. Not only that, his actions had forced those around me to make sacrifices as well. Berran was probably never going to see Caeles again. The queen would probably lose her life. My grandmother was a fugitive hiding who-knew-wh–

Practically out of the blue, a new thought occurred to me, shifting my line of thinking. All of a sudden I had a very good idea of where my grandmother was; I just needed a way to get there.

I ran back out to the bridge.

“Turn us around,” I said to no one in particular.

Berran gave me an odd look. “Excuse me, Prince?”

“I said turn us around. Take us back down to the planet.”

Berran and Ventrua looked at me as though I’d lost my mind.

“Take us back
now
,” I insisted. “I have an idea.”

It only took a minute or two to explain what I intended. Berran made some suggestions that would probably improve the odds of success, but still looked skeptical.

“Are you sure, Prince?” he asked.

I threw my arms up. “What choice do I have? Spending the rest of my life as an intergalactic hobo, trying to get as far as I can from Caelesian space? No! This gets settled now.”

Berran nodded in acquiescence. Captain Ventrua then gave the order to descend down into the planet’s atmosphere.

“Come, Highness,” Berran said. “Let’s get you ready.”

He then turned and marched from the bridge, with me right behind him. We then hustled down to my quarters, with Berran going straight to the bedroom once we were inside.

The courier walked towards a paneled wall near the picture window. When he got close, a section of it slid open, revealing a closet that I never would have found on my own. Berran reached inside and pulled out a suit of charcoal-gray body armor, complete with helmet and boots. I started donning the outfit without being told.

I needed Berran’s help getting some of it on, but within a few minutes I was fully decked out in the armor. The courier then spent another five minutes taking me through its major systems and capabilities. It was probably the fastest basic training any soldier ever had – as well as the most inadequate and insufficient – but it would have to do.

We then headed back to the bridge. On a whim, however – just before we left – I grabbed the Telumem and the Cantillate nut from the bedroom table. It was probably just superstition, but I’d had them both with me when the queen had essentially voided the
prexetus
. I couldn’t swear that they brought good luck, but at the moment I needed all the help I could get – real or fanciful. With that, I tucked the nut into a pocket and put the Telumem into a small rucksack that was attached to my waist.

A few minutes later, we were once again standing near Captain Ventrua’s chair – Berran looking stoic, and me battle-ready in my armor, with my helmet tucked under my arm.

“It’s starting,” the captain said as a hail from the Acropolis came across the bridge’s speakers, asking us to identify ourselves.

“We’re a commercial vessel seeking to dock at the landing port of the Acropolis,” Ventrua said in response to the hail.

“Be advised that you are off course for the landing port,” the voice said over the speakers.

“Understood,” Ventrua said. “We’ll correct course momentarily.” He then broke the connection and looked at me and Berran, saying, “That will buy us some time.”

“Thanks for this,” I said to the captain. “I know what you and your crew are risking for me.”

“It’s no less than you did for us,” Ventrua replied. “Remember, we would already be dead if not for you.”

“Thanks, anyway,” I said. “Get me as close as you can.”

“Will do, Prince,” the captain said.

They began trying to blast us out of the sky about three minutes later, after two more hails resulted in promises of a course correction from Captain Ventrua that he failed to fulfill. At that point, we were still fairly high up, but directly over the Acropolis and bearing down fast. The vessel shuddered violently as the first of a number of missiles hit our shields.

“It’s time,” Berran said, the ship shaking under our feet.

I nodded, said goodbye to Captain Ventrua, and then motioned for Berran to lead the way. The courier wasted no time, walking swiftly towards the exit with me following in his wake.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far. Once in the corridor that led from the bridge, Berran walked a few feet down the passageway and then removed a section of paneling from one of the walls. An ominous odor, like cabbage starting to go bad, rose out of the opening to greet us.

“In here,” Berran said, pointing to the gap he had made in the wall. “That’s the trash chute.”

“Wait,” I said, covering my nose and peering in as the ship shook again. “It is just trash, right? I mean, not” – I sought for a way to put things delicately – “waste?”

Berran looked at me as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.

I was about to phrase my question another way, then just threw caution to the wind, saying, “You know what? Forget about it.”

With that, I pulled on my helmet – making sure that the visor (which covered my eyes) and the faceplate (which covered me nose-to-chin) were in place – and then crawled into the opening, and dropped down feet-first.

I fell for about three seconds, and then landed on a pile of something soft and spongy. It was dark and dank, and for a moment I was tempted to activate the night vision in my helmet’s visor, then decided against it. I really didn’t want to know that much about my current environment.

It felt like I was in there for a long time, but it was probably no more than fifteen seconds before I heard a mechanical whirr, and then the bottom dropped out of my world.

Where there had been nothing but darkness a moment before there was now an abundance of sunlight. Also, a sudden wind began whipping at me wildly, buffeting me about.

Basically, Captain Ventrua had dropped the ship’s shields for a moment and then opened up the trash chutes. I – along with a bunch of other rubbish – was in freefall, diving towards the Acropolis. I twisted my body until I was parallel with the ground, stretching my limbs out in spread-eagle fashion.

I spared a glance back up towards the ship. As planned, the vessel had changed course once it had dumped me out, and was now headed back to the planet’s upper atmosphere. Despite the fact that the ship was no longer a threat, someone in the Acropolis evidently needed target practice, because they kept firing at the spaceship’s retreating form.

I looked back down and saw that I was getting nearer to the Acropolis; I would be passing some of the city’s highest skyscrapers in a moment.

The inner surface of my visor, near my right eye, began flashing numbers as the altimeter kicked on, counting down how high I was above the ground. The digits shown were Caelesian, so I had to do a quick calculation in my head to come up with an approximation in units I was more familiar with.

Five thousand feet…

I was now passing some of the higher spires. I reminded myself that the armor’s thrusters – located on the back and under the feet – would be kicking on soon.

Four thousand feet…

Berran had programmed the thrusters to activate at low altitude after I donned the armor. Anything coming out of a spaceship and leaving a jet stream was likely to be viewed as a weapon and get shot out of the sky.

Three thousand feet…

I was falling past windows now, catching a brief glimpse of people in a few of them.

Two thousand feet…

I was dropping below the roofs of some of the mid-sized buildings at this point.

One thousand feet…

The thrusters should be kicking on about…
Now!
Nothing happened.

Eight hundred feet…

Something was wrong. The thrusters were supposed to come on at one thousand feet.

Six hundred feet…

I heard something like a car sputtering softly, and felt something tugging at my back as well as pushing under my feet.

Four hundred feet…

I heard something like a cough coming from my right foot and twisted it so I could see what was going on. At the same time, I felt more tugging at my back.

Three hundred feet…

My right foot coughed again, and this time I saw something like a small, pink furball fly from the bottom of it. Suddenly, I knew what the problem was.

Two hundred feet…

That stupid trash chute! Waste and garbage had clogged up the thrusters, which were struggling to kick on.

One hundred feet…

“Command override!” I screamed, hoping the rest of the armor’s systems were still operating at peak efficiency. “Full thruster burst!”

Fifty feet!

The thrusters blasted into life, dragging me willy-nilly as they blew out rubbish while simultaneously arcing up and away from the ground. I let out a sigh of relief, thinking that was just too close. However, it should be smooth sailing from that point forward, as the armor was preprogrammed with my destination and I could let it do all the work. A moment later, I zipped between a jetpacked squad of the Queen’s Royal Guard.

*****

It took about five minutes for me to shake the guards, who had immediately given chase. I took all kinds of evasive maneuvers, but this was their home turf and they were particularly skilled at aerial chases. (Aerial combat was also part of their repertoire, as my armor could attest after taking a number of hits.) Ultimately, I discovered the “smokescreen” control and – after filling about two city blocks with smog – was able to slip away from my pursuers.

Back on automatic, the armor took me exactly where I needed to go without further incident: the museum repository in the deserted area of town.

On my previous visits, I had already been inside the building thanks to travel via elevators. This was my first time approaching from the outside, and as I landed on the ground, I wondered what would be the best way to gain entry. I was just about to smash a first-floor window when it occurred to me to try the door.

I walked up to the entrance and found the door to be locked, just as I expected. I sighed and then took a few steps to the side, preparing to follow through with my break-a-window plan. At that moment, however, I heard a loud click. Curious, I tried the door again, and this time it opened.

Wasting no time, I dashed inside and began running. I knew exactly where I needed to go: the room with the Beobona.

It took me a few minutes to reach it, but when I did, I saw what I’d expected for the most part: the queen in some kind of hospital bed, extremely pale but looking as though she were in a deep sleep. Standing next to the bed was a man in the uniform of a royal physician, attending to her. Seated on one side of the queen’s bed was my grandmother. Seated on the other side was someone I hadn’t expected to find: Myshtal.

I waved at them, happy my hunch had proved right: Indigo, knowing that I had been accused falsely, had brought Queen Dornoccia here in hopes that the Beobona could cure her, and that the queen would then clear my name. It was a good plan, and I smiled thinking how my grandmother was a genius. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that I realized something was wrong.

Rather than seem happy to see me, Myshtal and Indigo were gesturing wildly. Moreover, although their lips were moving, no sound was coming out; I couldn’t hear anything, even though they were only about twenty feet away. It was as if they were in a room with invisible walls. And then I understood.

Force field!

A force field meant danger, and danger at the present meant–

I didn’t get to finish the thought, as something like a crowbar hit me in the head.