Starbounders (9 page)

“You did it!” Ryic said. “We aren't going to crash.”

“Not into that planet,” Skold said. “But I can't make any guarantees about that one.” He pointed to a dusty, yellow-tinged planet with storm clouds moving across its surface.

Apparently, the electric surge had rebooted the starbox.

The flight-deck window became functional again, showing a warning that read,
MIE WITH SIROCCO IMMINENT. MIE COUNTDOWN, 00:01:05
.

“Everybody, brace for impact,” Skold shouted.

The dreadnought rocketed into the highest band of Sirocco's atmosphere, juddering the interior like a wooden roller coaster.

“Come close,” Ryic said to Zachary and Kaylee.

They gathered beside him and he stretched out his arms and torso to create a protective barrier around them. The last thing Zachary could see before Ryic covered his view completely was the ship plunging into a golden cloud. Zachary's teeth were shaking so violently that he feared they'd rattle right out of his head. His face was just inches away from Kaylee's. He could hear her heavy breath in his ear and then felt her fingers wrap around his, clutching them tightly.

“Don't worry,” Zachary tried to reassure her. “We're going to be okay.”

Suddenly the turbulence went away and the sensation of gravity returned. Everything was quiet for a moment, as if maybe they had made it out unscathed. And then came the impact.

Zachary and Kaylee, still within Ryic's protective shell, were thrown forward, slamming hard into something. The force of the collision broke Ryic's hold. Zachary's arm was stabbed by the sharpened edge of a broken object as he tumbled to the ground. Opening his eyes to get his bearings, he saw a crimson stain soaking through the sleeve of his jumpsuit. The sight of his own blood immediately sent a flush of pain shooting through his arm.

The entire flight-deck window was buried in the sand. Ryic and Kaylee were on the floor nearby, seemingly unhurt. Kur'tuo was clinging to the wall, having dug his arm blades into the metal surface.

Skold was lying on the ground, with a piece of the metal equipment panel piercing his side like a spear. Zachary rose to his knees and was about to stand when Kur'tuo dropped from the wall and stepped between Zachary and Skold. He gave Zachary a look as if to remind him how easy he would be to kill if he decided to get bold.

Skold pulled the shard of debris from his body, leaving a large hole that went straight into his center. Still kneeling, Zachary could see plastic and metal beyond the layer of phony flesh. And beyond that, inside a glass case, was something living. All Zachary could make out was a webbed foot and a tail. The crosshairs of his lensicon zeroed in on the creature, but before he could blink twice, Skold grabbed the jacket off Wilcox's chair and slipped it on, covering the hole.

“You three,” he said to Zachary, Kaylee, and Ryic. “Up.”

They slowly got to their feet. Zachary immediately felt off-balance. He realized that the ship was nearly vertical. The only way to get out of the flight deck was to climb
up
into the main cabin. Skold reached into the equipment panel he had pried open and removed an object that was roughly the size of a box of playing cards. It was solid indigo and had an infinity symbol on it. He pocketed the device and led the way, with Zachary, Ryic, and Kaylee behind him. Kur'tuo brought up the rear.

The dreadnought's main cabin was a grim scene. Those who hadn't been injured in the space battle had clearly suffered in the crash. The only beings still conscious were Jahir and his twin.

“This one's still breathing.” Jahir pointed to an IPDL guard lying on the ground.

Suddenly the ship jolted downward. It was sinking into the sand. Skold punched a button to activate the departure ramp. But nothing happened.

“What good is an emergency exit door if it doesn't open during emergencies?” Skold demanded of no one in particular.

He picked up one of the discarded photon cannons and fired at the exit door. The blasts made slow progress, and it felt like the dreadnought was submerging faster.

“Jahir, Lalique, arm yourselves,” Skold ordered. “We need more firepower.”

The two emaciated wolven beasts took up sonic crossbows and started firing at the same spot that Skold was blasting. Zachary bent down and reached for a weapon of his own. As his hand gripped one of the crossbows, Kur'tuo moved an arm blade inches away from his throat.

Zachary tried his best not to flinch, to keep his voice steady in the face of having his windpipe sliced open. “He said we needed more firepower.”

Kur'tuo looked to Skold, who nodded to let Zachary join the attack. Finally, their combined firepower punctured a hole in the steel door, but the ship had already sunk so deep that sand started pouring inside. Quickly.

Kur'tuo scurried over and used his arms to saw away at the opening. The alien mantis started to turn the small hole into a larger one. Then, with a couple swift slashes of his blades, the gap became big enough to squeeze through.

“Go, go,” Skold commanded.

Weapons still in hand, Kur'tuo, Jahir, and Lalique climbed for the planet's surface as sand flooded past them. Skold pushed Kaylee out through the hole, using his strength to propel her forward despite the tidal wave of sand crashing in. Ryic was next, and there was no time to waste. The ship's flight deck was filling up like the bottom of an hourglass.

Zachary turned back to the unconscious guard, whose body was halfway submerged in sand.

“What about him?” he asked.

“Remember what I told you about trying to be the hero,” Skold replied.

“We can still get him out of here,” Zachary said.

Zachary dropped the sonic crossbow and moved to the guard's side. He tried to shake him awake, but the IPDL officer felt cold and lifeless. Zachary put two fingers on his throat and couldn't find a pulse. Still not ready to give up, Zachary tried to lift the guard from the sand, but Skold grabbed Zachary by the back of his shirt, heaving him up over his shoulder.

“I need you alive,” he said.

The alien hijacker scooped up a supply canister and vaulted himself out through the hole with Zachary in tow. As Skold swam against the current of sand, the fine particles washed over Zachary, invading his ears, his nose, and his tightly shut eyes. It felt like a thousand tiny daggers were scratching at Zachary's corneas. He had to squeeze his lips tightly to keep his mouth from filling up, too. Even so, stray grains slipped through, grinding between his teeth. Then Skold pulled himself to the surface. He put Zachary down, and they both hurried to solid footing.

Kur'tuo, Jahir, and Lalique stood together, watching with perverse delight as the dreadnought disappeared into the ground. More precisely, only the front half of it disappeared. Zachary hadn't realized that the back end of the space freighter had broken off during the crash and was a quarter of a mile away. Between the back end and the now-sunken nose of the ship were the remnants of the cargo hold. Rubberized crates and the subzero freezer littered the sandy landscape.

“Where are we?” Jahir asked.

“In the Desultar Nebula,” Skold replied. “On the planet Sirocco.”

He reached down and picked up a handful of sand, letting the grains run through his fingers.

“Carbon flecks and sodium powder,” Skold continued. “It's a salt planet. Finding water will be impossible. If we're still stuck here come morning, we're going be mighty thirsty.”

“How did you get on our dreadnought?” Ryic asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Skold answered. “We were taken from the Ulam's detention facility and loaded into an armored transport cube. We were meant to be delivered to an asteroid prison. But lucky for us—or maybe not so lucky—it seems we were mistakenly put on the wrong ship.”

“Don't believe anything that comes out of his mouth,” Kaylee said. “There's a reason he's in shockles. Or was in them, anyway.”

“I'm sorry,” Skold said. “I didn't realize we'd met.”

“You stole from my father.”

“You're going to have to be more specific. I steal from a lot of people.”

“You nicked the ventilator off his ship, the
Copernicus
,” Kaylee said. “Nearly suffocated everyone on board.”

“Oh, yeah. That ship was supposed to be empty at the time. The itinerary said they were scheduled for an on-planet contracting meeting.”

“How much did you get for it?” she asked bitterly.

“Haven't found a buyer yet. If your father's interested, I'd be willing to sell it back to him at a good price.”

Kaylee spat at Skold's feet.

“Save your fluids,” he said. “I told you, this is a salt planet.”

“Can't I just eat her now?” Lalique asked.

“If things were different, I might say yes. But we're going to need at least one of these kids to launch a hopper ship out of this planet's designated safe haven. And there's a good chance they won't all make it to the haven alive.”

Lalique pouted.

“If you're hungry, have one of these,” Skold said. He opened the supply canister he'd taken off the ship and tossed her a spaste pouch. It was roughly the size of a tube of toothpaste.

“I don't eat this garbage,” Lalique said, throwing the pouch to the sand.

Skold immediately retrieved it.

“There's enough sustenance inside each of these to keep us alive for days,” he said. “Don't be stupid.”

Suddenly the ground began to tremble beneath their feet.

“A sinkhole,” Jahir said.

“I don't think so,” Skold replied.

A pale appendage stretched out of the sand, moving with incredible speed. Its leechlike mouth struck Lalique on her back, digging its circle of teeth into her. Before Lalique or anyone else could react, a horrible sucking sound was heard. By the time Jahir had aimed his sonic crossbow, it was too late. Lalique had been drained of every last drop of moisture, leaving nothing of her body but a mummified carcass of bone and fur.

Jahir let out an ear-shattering howl. “My sister!”

He unloaded a volley of sonic blasts, but most seemed to bounce off the beast's rock-hard exoskeleton.

Zachary and the others were backing away as the rest of the creature emerged. It looked like an eyeless octopus, but with nine long sucker tubes extending from its body. The crosshairs of Zachary's lensicon locked in. He blinked twice.

THIS NATIVE OF PLANET SIROCCO IS NOTABLE FOR ITS ABILITY TO DRAIN MOISTURE FROM ITS PREY THROUGH EACH OF ITS NINE SIPHON TENDRILS.

IT SPENDS MOST OF ITS TIME BENEATH THE SAND, LIVING ON WATER STORED IN ITS WARM, TENDER BELLY.

Zachary would have read further, but one of the dehydra's suckers was snaking toward him. He grabbed the sonic crossbow that had dropped from Lalique's hand and took a shot at the creature. The beam of sound hit the attacking sucker but only stunned it for a moment. The sucker resumed its pursuit of Zachary with single-minded determination.

And the creature's other eight arms appeared just as thirsty, setting their sights on the rest of the group.

“It wants to suck us all dry,” Zachary called out.

“I didn't think it would be giving out kisses,” Skold replied.

Instead of running away, Kur'tuo turned to the appendage coming up behind him. He slashed at it with his forearm, cutting the mouth clear off. The severed appendage fell to the ground and began writhing.

Kur'tuo made a series of loud clicks at the dehydra.

“Cursing at it isn't going to help,” Skold said.

The chopped sucker was already regenerating itself, forming a new mouth and growing new teeth.

“We're not going to be able to kill this thing,” Kaylee said. “And I'm not sure we can outrun it, either.”

“Maybe we can distract it,” Zachary said.

“With what?” Ryic asked.

“Vreeks.” Zachary looked to the subzero freezer that had been thrown from the wreckage. It was only fifty yards off, but there would be no way to get to it with the dehydra standing in his way. Even Ryic wouldn't be able to stretch far enough to unlatch the freezers.

“Somebody cover me,” Zachary said. “I'll try to make a run for it.”

“Use your warp glove, kid,” Skold replied. “Haven't they taught you anything at Indigo 8?”

His warp glove! Of course! Zachary was about to find out if his Starbounder training was worth anything at all. Two calculations had to be made first. Direction was easy—he'd just point at the desired target. As for distance, the more he rotated his wrist clockwise, the farther away the hole would appear. Zachary thrust his hand forward, twisting his wrist, and pointed his index finger. A black disc formed precisely as he aimed. He reached through and watched as a second hole materialized fifty yards away, just inches from the freezer. His gloved hand emerged from that hole and gripped the latch, opening it. Then Zachary pulled his warp glove back to his side.