Starbounders (13 page)

“That's where the bounder ships are,” Skold said. “My ticket beyond the Indigo Divide.”

“Indigo Divide?” Zachary asked.

“It's a smugglers' term. Means somewhere the IPDL can't touch me, somewhere outside their jurisdiction. I've got a moon past the Asteroid Curtain that's my personal chop shop. Ships and parts. Be nice and I'll give you my business card. Now get a move on.”

They entered what looked like a factory floor, where broad-shouldered aliens manipulated robotic arms to break apart larger space debris. Farther down the line, others were running the cracked rocks through water, and any gleaming bits that were found were chipped out and placed on a conveyor belt. The noise was deafening, with constant clanging and cracking. Their path followed the conveyor belt into a different room, where the most valuable bits of metal—capendium—were plucked off and transferred into lockboxes. IPDL officers of every alien race then secured the boxes and carried them away.

Zachary was straining his face muscles to catch the attention of the uniformed officers without saying anything.

“If they try to take me, I can't help it if you get caught in the crossfire,” Skold said quietly.

The threat was enough to keep the three Starbounders-in-training and Sputnik silent. They crossed through unnoticed, exiting the refinery and moving into the living quarters. They were walking swiftly now—at least, as swiftly as they could with the heavier gravity—passing another kiosk, which indicated they were nearing the walkway to the other side of the prospecting station. They reached a long hallway and found themselves approaching a guard post where a line of people waited. Skold slowed to a stop. It was clear that warp gloves alone weren't going to be enough to get them past this point.

“Please wait in line for your cranial DNA identification scan,” a guard called out.

Anyone crossing through had a handheld electronic device, roughly the size of a thermometer, waved in front of their forehead. It was only a brief inconvenience if the device lit up orange, but if the reading turned up blue, the individual being scanned was immediately cuffed in shockles and dragged away.

“Looks like we need to take a detour.” Skold pulled the young Starbounders out of the hallway.

“You saw the map,” Zachary said. “The walkway is the only way to get across.”

“From the inside,” Skold replied.

He was guiding them toward an emergency exit, where a ladder led down to a sealed door.

“Are you crazy?” Kaylee asked. “Executing an untethered space walk?”

“Don't they teach you anything at Indigo 8?” Skold replied.

“We've only been there a week,” Ryic said.

“Well, nothing beats on-the-fly training.”

He ushered them down the ladder and unlatched the door. They stepped into another atmospheric atrium. This one had a wall full of off-planet bio regulators and what appeared to be hi-tech rock-climbing equipment.

“Everyone gear up,” Skold ordered. “Grab a magnetic grappling hook and a bio regulator.”

Zachary, Kaylee, and Ryic equipped themselves. Kaylee gave a reassuring pat to Sputnik, who was sticking his head out of her pocket.

“You're going to need to hold your breath for a few minutes,” she said. “Think you can do that, Sputnik?”

The vreek let out a
meep
, seeming to understand.

Zachary inserted one of the clear mouthpieces between his lips. As his mouth formed a seal around the breathing apparatus, he felt a whoosh of pure oxygen enter his lungs. With his first breath, the bio regulator formed a repulsion barrier around him, just like his lensicon said it would.

“Look,” Ryic said, his word garbled by the device held fast in his jaw.

Zachary turned to see that Ryic was trying to clap his hands together, but no matter how hard he pushed, the unseen barrier kept them an inch apart.

Skold held a pair of grappling hooks in his hand but didn't wear a regulator.

“Where's your mouthpiece?” Zachary asked.

“Don't need it. I told you I've got internal oxygen tanks,” Skold replied. “Now remember, I need at least one of you alive on the other side, so try not to die out there.”

“Thanks for the pep talk,” Zachary said.

Skold prompted Zachary to punch a button, which he did. First the gravity in the chamber disappeared, then the air was sucked out. A heavy door leading to the vacuum of space slid open. The four drifted through, weightless, each holding a magnetic grappling hook.

The first thing Zachary noticed was the silence. The spaceships that passed by above and beyond them, the comets and asteroids bouncing off the side of the space station, the blades and grinders of the prospectors' mining operation. None of it made a noise. Zachary remembered learning that in space, without molecules of air, sound didn't exist. But he hadn't really comprehended it until now.

The second thing Zachary noticed was how tiny he felt. Of course, infinite cosmos in every direction would probably make anyone feel insignificant.

Skold signaled with his hands for the three to watch him. Using his mag hook, he latched on to a distant spot on the side of the space station and started to pull himself along the rim toward the thin walkway, motioning for them to follow.

Large space rocks flowed into the whirling machinery under the walkway, and the closer they got to the center, the stronger the tug of the gravity channel became. As tiny asteroid particles flew in Zachary's direction, he braced himself, but the bio regulator's force field deflected any incoming debris.

Zachary squeezed his fingers extra tight around the grappling hook's fiberglass rope and struggled to keep his footing. Skold clearly had experience with this kind of escape. He was cruising ahead. In front of Zachary, Kaylee managed to keep pace with the fugitive. Behind him, Ryic . . . was gone. Only his mag hook remained, attached to the ship's surface.

It took a moment for Zachary to comprehend what was happening. He wanted to scream out for Ryic. He even thought he did. But as much as his lungs vibrated, no one reacted to his call. Zachary searched frantically before spotting Ryic drifting slowly toward the river of rocks. His arms flailed wildly, with nothing to grab on to and no way of propelling himself.

Zachary turned back to Skold and Kaylee, who were still completely unaware of what was happening. Unable to get their attention, Zachary knew it was up to him to do something. And he needed to do it quickly, because Ryic was getting ever closer to the prospecting station's grinders with no way to reverse his course. As effective as the force field was at deflecting rocks, it would be no match for the giant, spinning blades.

Suddenly, Zachary had a flash of the fishing trips he used to take with his dad and brother. He remembered one time when a favorite baseball cap went overboard and started flowing downstream. Jacob thought fast and sent his fishing line flying, hooking the mesh hat and reeling it in.

Zachary grabbed Ryic's grappling hook, swung, and fired. It stretched out, reaching toward Ryic's open arms. But the rope wasn't long enough. Ryic extended his arm as far as he could, but to no avail.

Kaylee and Skold had finally noticed what was going on. Kaylee's face read horror. Skold looked emotionless. He was gesturing to Zachary to forget about Ryic.

Was Skold crazy? There was no way Zachary was going to let Ryic go. He retrieved his own mag hook and leaped off the hull of the station, propelling himself straight for his friend. As he soared in space, Zachary fired Ryic's grappling hook a second time. This time, Ryic caught the other end in his hands. Now they were both drifting toward their doom, together.

Zachary turned to the ship and prepared to launch his mag hook back at the side. But before he was able to activate it, a small chunk of cosmic ice cracked against the mag hook's handle, knocking it loose from Zachary's grip and sending it tumbling toward the grinders.

Ryic had managed to pull himself to Zachary's side but seemed too overcome with panic to think clearly. Zachary knew that they needed a way to propel themselves to the station's surface, but there was nothing close enough to use as a springboard. The tug of the gravity sinkhole seemed inescapable.

Then Zachary saw the end of a magnetic grappling hook flying toward him. He looked up to see Kaylee trying the same rescue tactic that he had. She was close enough that the hook reached him. His fingers grabbed the magnetic claw, and Kaylee reeled them back toward the ship. Zachary flooded with relief as his feet made contact with the rim and Ryic touched down beside him. They were both able to continue on their way. Zachary and Ryic shared Ryic's grappling hook, gripping one another tightly until they arrived at the other side.

Skold stopped before an emergency door to yet another atmospheric atrium. This one was beyond the walkway and the scrutiny of the DNA guard post. Zachary pressed his glove up to the indentation, and the outer door slid open. The four clambered into the safety of the atrium. Once the door closed and the whoosh of air returned, they removed their bio regulators, allowing them to talk once more. Ryic was the first to speak.

“My hand just slipped—”

“Save it for later.” Skold was already waiting at the locked doorway leading back into the station. “After you open this door for me, we split ways. I'm going to have to take your warp gloves and keep you locked up in here. They'll find you in a couple hours, but by then I'll be long gone.”

With a sinking feeling, Zachary walked over and reached his warp glove—the glove that had belonged to his famous grandfather Gerald Night and the glove he was about to lose forever—out to the indentation.

“And one more thing,” Skold added. “I'd stay away from—”

But before he finished, the door slid open. A dozen sonic crossbows were pointed right at them.

“S
kold Ota Stella, you're under arrest,” said one of the IPDL officers taking aim. “For intergalactic grand theft larceny and attempted robbery of the Callisto perpetual energy generator. As well as hijacking, murder, and armed evasion of capture.”

“You're going to have to add kidnapping to that list, too,” Skold said.

He whipped out his photon cannon, and Zachary felt it pressed up against his back before any of the officers could react. With the hard nozzle jammed into his spine, Zachary knew that all it would take was one pull of the trigger and he would never walk again. Skold huddled Ryic and Kaylee up beside Zachary and pushed them all forward.

“I'm getting on one of those ships.” Skold gestured across the way to a series of docking portals where pitchforks and battle-axes were parked. The IPDL officers couldn't get a clear shot at Skold—not unless they were willing to take out one of the young Starbounders in the process.

Skold began inching out of the atmospheric atrium, using his hostages as a shield, but the officers refused to clear the way for him.

“We have authority to apprehend you regardless of the casualties,” the IPDL officer told Skold.

Zachary knew what that meant. He, Ryic, and Kaylee didn't count in the big galactic picture. It was in his best interest for Skold to get on that ship.

“Drop your weapon or we'll be forced to open fire,” the officer said.

Skold seemed all too willing to play this game of chicken. And Zachary wasn't going to wait to see who was going to flinch first.

He reached around the photon cannon and pulled the magnetic tweezers from Skold's jacket pocket. Pushing Kaylee out of the way, he jammed them into the shockle still clinging to Skold's left wrist.

A massive neutron burst flashed across the room, blinding every last officer. Zachary's vision was immediately clouded by the bright white light, as if he had stared directly into the sun. He felt a tug at his shirt and was quickly pulled forward.

“What was that?” Skold demanded as they hurried from the scene. “You think you were going to escape from me?”

“No,” Zachary said. “It was to help you escape. I've been watching you. I saw that your eyes weren't affected by the neutron bursts back at the campsite.”

Zachary could hear the disoriented shouts of IPDL officers behind him, but all he could see was a blur. He could feel Skold lift his gloved hand and hold it up to another indentation. He heard a door slide open.

“You may as well let us go,” Kaylee said, coming back to Zachary's side. “We're of no use to you now. That officer said so himself.”

“Haven't you ever heard of bluffing?” Skold replied. “The IPDL would never allow Starbounders-in-training to die.”

Through the haze still obscuring Zachary's vision, he could tell they had boarded a ship. He just had no idea what kind. Skold pushed him down into a seat and strapped him in.

The ship began to vibrate and then took off, rocketing into space. Zachary's eyesight cleared just enough to see Skold piloting the ship toward the black disc of a space fold. If the effects of the neutron burst had worn off for the blinded IPDL officers, it was too late.