Chapter 11
“Did you say… they won?” I asked as I clambered out of the stasis tube.
“Yes,” the scientist said with a bright smile on his face.
“As in, they fought them off?” I gawked.
“Yes,” Hemphy replied. “That’s how it looks to me. They hit Kytr just like they hit our home and every other planet they have invaded, but Kytr is the only one that wasn’t wiped out. That doesn’t seem to sit well with the Karaak, so they kept the planet on the list with a notation about the need to return and basically finish the job.”
“Which means they people on Kyrt are still alive,” I said. “We’ve seen for ourselves that they don’t leave survivors. They keep coming until everyone has been wiped out. But this changes everything. We now know it’s possible to beat them, and all we have to do is figure out how they did it.”
The energy inside the room suddenly went from zero to one hundred. Excitement buzzed around the cave, and it felt like the we all might combust at any moment from our combined energy.
For so long, the Karaak had seemed like an unstoppable force. Sure, we could put them off for a while and postpone the inevitable attack, but in the end, all of us believed that it would take nothing less than a miracle to defeat them. But here was the glimmer of hope that we had all been searching for, that I had hoped might come along with the Karaak ship we had managed to take into custody.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was a planet called Kytr. Kytr had gone up against the Karaak, the species that had been systematically annihilating every single species and planet they set their sights on, and somehow, they had beaten them. The people of Kytr were alive, and while I was sure they had suffered great losses, they had resisted the Karaak’s attack and lived to tell the tale.
Now all we had to do was convince the people of Kytr to share their method with us.
“What can you tell us about Kytr, if anything?” I asked.
He quickly scanned through the information on a tablet he had with him, and his eyes flicked in all directions. The analyst was a quick reader, though, and he nodded and hummed as he read and then reread the report.
“Well?” Occana pressed.
“It’s a mining planet,” Hemphy said. “It is not too far from here, relatively. One jump and a few hours of flying time and you should be there.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” I said eagerly. “We should get going ASAP, before the Karaak decide it’s time to go back. I wanna find out everything I can from the people of Kytr. If there’s a way to defend against, or even fight back against, the Karaak, then I wanna know it. I’m sick of being one step behind those bastards, and this planet could be our only chance to get the upper hand. Who’s with me?”
“Wait a moment,” Hemphy said and shook his head. “You haven’t let me finish.”
“And here comes the bad news,” Rayne sighed.
“How bad can it be?” I asked.
“The planet is surrounded by a thick layer of radiation,” Hemphy replied. “Even with your ship’s current shield configuration, there will still be serious damage to the ship.”
“How serious?” I pressed.
“You wouldn’t be able to leave,” Hemphy said. “Not without some serious repairs.”
“That’s not ideal,” I said.
“And then you’d have to fly through the radiation cloud again, and if you survived a second time, you’d have to stop and make repairs somewhere before you could return here.”
“Okay, I get your point,” I sighed.
“The good news is that your protective suits will be enough to protect you once you’re on the surface,” Hemphy added.
“So we just have to get there,” I said.
“Can we upgrade the ship to survive the radiation?” Occana asked.
Hemphy tapped at the tablet a few times, nodded at whatever he saw, and then looked up at the ceiling for a moment.
“I believe we can,” Hemphy said. “We may have to improvise on some of the external alterations since we have to make do with what we have here in the colony, but I think we can get you down to the surface.”
“How quickly can you get it done?” I asked.
“The work should go quickly,” he replied. “We have had time to construct some more robots like yours--”
“Bob,” I said, and Bob beeped happily where he stood beside Rayne.
“Yes, like Bob,” Hemphy chuckled. “So, the changes can be made quickly once we give the robots the instructions.”
“Sounds good,” I replied. “If you don’t mind giving Francine the coordinates while you’re working on the ship, that would be great.”
“Of course,” he said.
“Sounds like we have time for breakfast,” Rayne commented and glanced at me.
“That would be great,” I said. “They say it’s the most important meal of the day, after all.”
“I can show you to the cafeteria,” Occana offered.
I noticed Rayne looking at me and remembered that I was only in my underwear and nothing else. She blushed slightly, and then went bright crimson when I caught her looking.
“Ummm,” I hesitated and glanced at Rayne again. “Actually, I think I’d rather eat in our room. I could do with some new boxers… and maybe a shower. Plus, it might be faster and easier than if we go to the cafeteria.”
“Of course,” Occana laughed. “Our people are nothing if not nosy, but please do not hold it against them. We have always been curious about other cultures, and the fact that you have given us hope that we may survive this has only increased their sense of wonder.”
“It’s fine,” I said and grinned. “Normally, I’d be happy to brag about my adventures, but I have this gut feeling that we need to get to Kytr as quickly as possible. Once we get back with the information we need, then I’d be happy to sit down with the Lilacrons and talk about what I’ve seen and done.”
“Deal,” the General replied. “I will have your food sent to your room. Do you remember the way back?”
“I’m sure we can manage,” I replied.
Occana was a busy man, especially after arresting Doron for attempting to carry out a mutiny, and it appeared that he was now the glue that kept the entire colony together, so I didn’t want to take away any more of his time than was necessary.
We thanked Hemphy for all of his hard work and asked him to pass on how grateful we were to the other analysts as well. I wouldn’t have known where to start with the Skelg and the bodies of the Karaak, but the analysts had managed to find some answers. It was a start, and as the scientists continued their investigations, there was hope that they might uncover more secrets of the Karaak.
I wiped off as much of the gel as I could and then I put my suit back on. While the Lilacrons in stasis might have been happy to walk around in the nude, the ones up here weren’t so liberal.
Once I was ready, we all headed back up to the main floor of the elevator, and Occana and Hemphy walked us all the way back to the science block, where the scientist and the General peeled off in different directions.
“Right,” I said as I stared at all the hallways around us. “So, straight ahead until…”
“Bob, you can lead us back, right?” Rayne asked the robot.
Bob beeped and started down the hallway, and though I didn’t think that he followed the exact same route Occana had taken, we did eventually end up back at our room. We jogged most of the way, mostly so we wouldn’t have to stop and talk to the Lilacrons we passed, though one tall fella ran alongside us part of the way so he could thank us over and over again for bringing his mother to the colony.
It was a relief when we stepped into the room and the door closed behind us. For a moment, we stood still in the middle of the room, lost in thought about what we had just been told. But then Rayne’s eyes met mine, and two very wide smiles spread like wildfire across our faces. We wrapped our arms around one another in a tight embrace and jumped up and down while we squealed like excitable, gleeful piglets.
“I can’t believe it!” Rayne exclaimed.
“Me, neither,” I replied. “God, the universe really has given us a four leaf clover with that Kytr discovery.”
“What’s a clover?” Rayne asked.
“Just this plant on Earth that people think are lucky,” I laughed. “What I mean is, we’ve finally had a stroke of good luck from all of this.”
“Thanks to you,” she said.
“Thanks to us,” I corrected her.
“Thanks to us,” she agreed. “Me, mostly.”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” I chuckled.
There was a knock on the door, and when I opened it, I found a very nervous female Lilacron waiting outside with a generous plate of food for us. I didn’t recognize what most of it was, but it smelled wonderful. However, there was no way that we would be able to finish that much between the two of us.
“Thank you very much,” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Oksy,” the young being replied with a quivering voice.
“Well, Oksy, could you do me a favor?” I asked as I took some water and a couple of the plates of food off the tray. “Could you give this food to any people you might know that need it more than we do? We’ve only got little stomachs, and I don’t want any of this delicious meal going to waste.”
“Some of the people in the infirmary might like an extra portion,” she said. “Staff and patients alike.”
“Great!” I said encouragingly. “If anyone gives you a hard time, tell them I sent you.”
The kid nodded eagerly and took off down the hall.
“And Oksy?” I called after her, and she turned around. “Don’t forget to take a bit for yourself, too.”
She smiled and nodded before she disappeared around the corner.
I turned around with the two plates of food in my hand and closed the door behind me.
“You’re such a do-gooder,” Rayne chuckled as she took one of the plates from me and eyed the contents. “Any idea what any of this is?”
“Something corn or grain-based, I’m assuming,” I replied. “But it’s nice to have a warm meal cooked for me for a change.”
I brought the food inside and set it down between us on the bed.
“When they said you were in stasis, I couldn’t believe it,” Rayne said as she munched away at the breakfast we’d been given.
“Yeah, it was an impromptu visit to say the least,” I said.
“What was it like in there?” she asked.
“It was the most amazing place I had ever been,” I replied honestly. “I hope you get a chance to see it one day. I’ve never felt so at peace.”
“Did you meet anyone?” she asked.
“I met some of the elders,” I said. “They gave me some advice.”
“What did they say?” she pressed eagerly.
She seemed to think that they had given me some advice on how to defeat the Karaak, or had just patted me on the back for being their peoples’ hero. I didn’t want to let her down, or for her to lose the smile that was on her face. We’d just had a win with Hemphy’s breakthrough, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment for her.
“They just wanted to wish us luck,” I said. “And to thank us for what we’ve done so far.”
“That was nice of them,” she replied.
We ate as much of the food as we could manage, and then I sat back and massaged the small lump that had formed inside my stomach. While the nanobots had increased my metabolism tenfold, I still got a five-minute-long bout of sleepiness every time I ate a hearty meal like that one.
However, my shut-eye was short-lived, because there was another knock on the door less than half an hour later. This time, Rayne opened it to reveal Hemphy standing behind it. He looked flustered and tired, but more than anything, he looked eager to see us.
“You stuck to your word,” I said. “That was quick.”
“My people are nothing if not talented when it comes to technology,” Hemphy said proudly. “We altered your shields and upgraded some of the more vulnerable parts of the hull to withstand the radiation around Kytr, but it will still be a bumpy ride.”
“I understand,” I replied. “Thank you so much for everything, Hemphy. We couldn’t do any of this without you. I mean it.”
“Thank you, Will Ryder,” he said proudly.
“But please make sure you get some rest,” I said. “We can’t have Lilacron’s best and brightest burning out at the wrong time.”
“I’ll rest when you do,” he replied.
“Well, I slept like a log last night, so get some sleep tonight, will you?” I said.
“I’ve been lying in stasis for years,” he replied, but I could tell he knew there was some wisdom behind my words. “But alright, I promise to get at least one night’s sleep before you get back.”
“Good,” I said and patted him on the shoulder.
“Do you have everything you need for your journey?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “I do.”
Hemphy nodded, and as Rayne and I stepped out of the room, he actually gave the Wildern woman an awkward hug. When that was done, the analyst took a deep breath and hurried down the hall in the direction of the labs.
“Okay, Bob,” I said. “Lead the way to Francine.”
Bob took off again, and Rayne and I ran along behind him. We still received a lot of curious stares, but we must have looked determined as we wound our way through the halls because everyone we passed stepped out of our way and plastered themselves against the wall.
We were in the hangar in a matter of minutes, and Francine had practically laid out the red carpet for us. The ramp was down, the ship was powering up, and the running lights illuminated the hangar in a wonderful halo. Occana was waiting at the bottom of the ramp to send us off, but I could tell that a large part of him wished that he was going with us.
“Do you want me to accompany you?” he asked hopefully.
“Your people need you here,” I said, and then I lowered my voice. “This thing with Doron has me worried that there are others who see this as an opportunity to seize power. You need to be here to make sure that doesn’t happen. Besides, all we’re going to do is pop in and talk to the people of Kytr. We’ll be back before you know it.”
“I really hope you’re right about that,” the General replied. “I would tell you to send updates, but the radiation would make that impossible.”
“We’ll tell you everything when we get back,” Rayne replied.
“Stay safe,” he said.
Rayne nodded, looked at me, and then marched up the ramp and into the ship. Her footsteps echoed around the hangar, and she gave me one more quick look before she climbed up the ladder into the private quarters.
When Rayne was out of sight, I turned back to look at Occana, and I noticed that he looked paler than usual, and his face was creased with worry. I could have told him that everything would be easy, but we both knew that probably wasn’t true.
“We’ll make it back, one way or another,” I assured him. “We always do.”
“I will hold you to that,” he said.
I gave him a nod, and he returned the favor, and then I followed Rayne inside with Bob at my heels. The ramp closed behind me, and I quickly passed Bob up to Rayne before jumping up to the second floor. We walked through the living quarters and took our seats, and then I ran through the preflight checklist as quickly as I could. When Francine confirmed that the ship was ready, I flew slowly toward the airlock. The doors sealed shut behind us, the outer doors opened, and then we shot out into space once again.
As soon as we were a safe distance from the colony and any other dwarf planets in the vicinity, I began to fire up the folding engine. I had been itching to use it again, and as I flicked the switches and powered the bad boy up, I felt the familiar tingle of adrenaline drip-feeding into my bloodstream.
Rayne, on the other hand, had the complete opposite reaction to jumping through space. She hated it. Sure, it left a sick taste in my mouth and an upset stomach in its wake, but it seemed to affect her far worse than it did me. That being said, the look on her face during the jumps was one of my absolute favorite bits of entertainment, and this time was no different.
“Engaging folding engine,” Francine said, and then we both watched as the starry night in front of us morphed out into a long tunnel of stretched light and warped images.
The engine slingshotted us across space and time at such a speed that we were both thrown back in our seats. The skin on my face was dragged back until I had no other choice but to smile, and the pressure pushing against me felt like a two-ton rock on my chest. I held onto my old chair for dear life as we were catapulted across the galaxy, and I turned my head just in time to see Rayne’s mouth open wide.
She let out a terrified scream that lasted the entire length of the jump, and if her eyes had gotten any wider they would have burst out of her skull. I laughed hysterically at her the rest of the way until finally, the jump ended. The tunnel of multicolored light beams reverted to stars, planets, suns, moons, and other extraterrestrial objects, and we were released from the hold of the invisible hand that had pressed us into our seats and held us there.
As soon as we were thrown forward in our seats as we came to a halt, Rayne unbuckled her belt and was on her feet. She massaged her stomach while she leaned forward slightly, and for a second there I thought she might actually regurgitate our breakfast.
“You said that was going to get easier!” she growled.
“It did for me,” I laughed.
“Well, good for you!” she shouted, and then she groaned and put her head in her hands. “It definitely gets worse for me every time we do it.”
“Small price to pay for such affordable and efficient travel,” I said. “The masses forced to wait in an airport would be jealous.”
“Don’t push it.” she said, and I could tell that she was really struggling with the after-effects of the jump.
“Maybe you should grab a glass of water?” I suggested.
“I don’t think putting anything into my stomach is a good idea,” she said. “In fact--”
Suddenly, she clamped her hand over her mouth and darted off into the living quarters.
“Jeez,” I sighed as I turned back to the front window. “There’s no way we can make it smoother, is there, Frankie?”
“No,” Francine replied, and she sounded like a disapproving mother judging her daughter’s choice of outfit. “I am sorry that she finds the groundbreaking technology my people created uncomfortable.”
“Now, now,” I chuckled. “It is kinda funny, though. I mean, she’s a ferocious fighter and an incredibly intelligent and strong woman, but that jump really takes it out of her.”
“I heard that!” Rayne shouted from the living compartment.
“Damn it,” I grimaced. “Hey, Francine, if my body turns up, you know who did it.”
The AI and I chuckled, but we quickly stopped when I heard Rayne re-enter the room. I looked over at her with a sheepish grin that she made a point of ignoring, and she took her seat beside me with her arms folded.
“Feeling better?” I asked.
She didn’t reply or even look at me. She just sat there with her lips pursed and her steely gaze on the view beyond the window.
“Did you get some water, or…” I pressed.
Again, nothing.
“You threw up, didn’t you?” I said.
“Yes, I threw up,” she snapped. “I forgot that eating before one of those jumps doesn’t agree with me.”
“Well, maybe you--” I began to say but stopped myself since I didn’t want to poke the bear.
So, I stayed quiet while her stomach calmed down, and I focused on our flight toward Kytr. It was only about an hour and a half from our current location, so we would get there in no time. My hands gripped the joysticks tightly in anticipation, and I felt my thoughts start to whizz around my head.
We were headed into unknown territory. I thought I might have gotten used to the excitement of exploring an unknown region by now, but apparently not. And while I had high hopes that the people of Kytr would be able to tell us something, there was still a chance that we were mistaken.
Maybe the Karaak marking Kytr as somewhere to go back to was an error, or maybe not crossing them out didn’t mean what we thought it did. Maybe Kytr was on the Karaak’s side now, and we were headed straight into their trap. Or maybe the people of Kytr were even worse than the Karaak.
I wasn’t sure how that last one could even be possible, but stranger things had happened I was sure. After about an hour imagining the worst-case scenarios, I realized that I was just working myself up playing the ‘what if?’ game. The only way we were going to find out the truth from Kytr was by getting there, and according to Francine, we almost were. Still, there was an awkward silence floating around us, and while I wasn’t sure that I should crack that ice, I couldn’t stew in my own juices for a moment longer.
“Hey, Francine?” I asked eventually. “What else did Hemphy tell you about the Kytr?”
“He provided me with all available information before we left,” the AI replied. “That includes what little there was in the Lilacron database as well as all of the information retrieved from the Karaak ship.”
“And?” I asked. “Anything of note?”
“Most of it is about population density, but I am sure that those numbers have changed drastically since the Karaak visited them,” she said.
“Agreed,” I replied.
“Hey, you two,” Rayne said. “I’m here, too.”
“Right, sorry,” I replied.
“Apologies, Rayne,” Francine said through Bob this time. “I was not sure you wanted to participate in the discussion.”
“I don’t want to talk, but I can still listen,” she replied.
“Good point,” the AI replied.
“Francine was saying that most of the info on Kytr is just statistics like population and that sort of thing,” I said.
“I can imagine those numbers have changed since,” Rayne said in a fair imitation of Francine.
“You two are peas in a pod, you know that?” I chuckled.
“What about their defenses?” Rayne asked. “Did Hemphy give you anything on that?”
“Right,” I said. “They’ve just been attacked, so it’s logical to assume that they might be readying themselves for another one.”
“So they might shoot us on sight,” Rayne said. “I know I would.”
“Stranger danger,” I muttered.
“Exactly,” Rayne said with a nod.
“You sure are talking a lot for someone who just wanted to listen,” I noted.
That earned me a punch in the arm from Rayne, who then stared at the window.
“The data did not include any information about Kytr’s defenses,” Francine said. “The information from the Karaak ship was very basic, though that might be expected since it was only a scout ship. More detailed information would only be needed by the attack vessels.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter that you don’t know anything yet, Francine,” I said. “Because we’re about to find out for ourselves. We’re here.”