Majesty's Offspring (Books 1 & 2)

  ******

  Haylek sat on a bench, feeling significantly more human after being able to wash up. The three of them used the transport’s bathroom to get some of the stench of the garbage scow off. They still did not smell good, but at least the air around them was breathable.

  They were in a small living space at the back of the transport. Freeze and Doc were now situated at a table; both huddled in front of their terminal. Haylek sat on a bench seat with his back to the wall. His head began to throb. The withdrawal symptoms were beginning to hit him. He had to think about something to keep himself from going crazy.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace that Chorus had left behind. Curious, he brought it closer to him, using the light of the transport to help discern its details. The chain was a thin silver-like material with no links. It seemed to be a single piece that had the flexibility of a fabric—yet it shined and had the weight and feel of metal. Holding it by one end, he let the length of the chain drop slowly into the palm of his hand. The thin material balled up and collected in the center with the consistency of a liquid—it was like nothing he had seen before.

  At the end of the chain hung a clear, crystal-like jewel. It no longer gave off the luminescence that it did before when it was around her neck. Nonetheless, he could not keep his eyes off its exotic beauty. He decided to put the necklace around his neck, all the while wondering why she left it for him. Was it an accident? Maybe she really meant to take it with her.

  That did not seem likely, though—all her actions to date seemed to be deliberately planned. The way she let herself get moved and then subsequently captured by the pirates. Then sending CrazyWold to rescue them, right after they started the Brotherhood movement. To having this pirate, Eddie, pick them up at the platform and whisk them away from the station.

  There was more to her plan, he knew that—but he wondered what it was, and should he really trust her? Was she really looking out for them, or was there more to it? Was she using them?

  Haylek shook the questions out of his mind. He could drive himself crazy trying to wrap his head around it all. All he knew is that they were headed to her “home” as she called it.

  Eddie had explained they were actually headed to a ship called the Sea Wolf—which Haylek remembered CrazyWold mentioning as well. Apparently, it was run by pirates, with Eddie himself part of the crew. What this had to do with Chorus, neither of them knew. Eddie seemed to know even less about Chorus than Haylek did. The question of what she had planned for all of them would simply have to wait for her to reveal it herself.

  Suddenly, Haylek was knocked off his bench and the lights around him went out. He squinted as he felt his face hit the floor hard. Haylek managed to push himself up and look around the transport. The lights had come back on, and he saw Freeze and Doc on the ground as well, fallen on top of each other. They both looked at him with bewildered expressions.

  Haylek picked himself up off the floor just as the shuttle shook hard again. He grabbed onto a handrail for support and inched his way to the forward compartment where the pilot was. The sound of metal scraping metal, along with a sudden clang, resounded throughout the cabin. Inside, he saw Eddie behind the controls. He quickly dropped himself into an adjacent seat and strapped in.

  The transparent metal windows showed numerous other spacecraft traversing congested lanes of traffic all around them. The arteries of ships all converged into a single security checkpoint ahead. Eddie was flying their transport fast and outside of the defined lanes.

  “What’s going on?” Haylek asked.

  “We’re being chased,” Eddie responded behind gritted teeth. The transport banked and turned, traveling in between the other ships. “I’m trying to lose them in the traffic.”

  “Who’s chasing us?”

  “Venusians, Enforcers, Confed—probably everyone, mate!”

  A blue flash of light zipped by outside, followed by another. Haylek felt a vibration in his seat.

  “Are they …?”

  “Firing at us? Oh yeah.”

  Eddie pointed to a control panel. “Get on the turret station controls.”

  Haylek looked at the station’s control panel then back at him dumbfounded. “Huh?”

  “The guns! You can shoot back and slow them wankers down.”

  Haylek just looked at the panel and shook his head. “I don’t think I can…”

  Another flash, and this time the transport shook hard and he could feel it buckle.

  “Fine, mate,” Eddie said. “We’ll just have to see how maneuverable this thing can be. You better hold on to your lunch.”

  Haylek stared ahead and could see him point their transport directly toward a heavy traffic lane. The ships were tightly packed and there was a small gap that he was apparently aiming for. Haylek grabbed hard onto the seat’s hand rests and braced himself as the shuttles became rapidly bigger through the window.

  Eddie maneuvered their ship, rolling and twisting it hard in between the tight gap between the shuttles. The familiar sound of metal hitting metal resounded as they scraped the sides of the ships. Haylek felt as if he was going to vomit.

  “It’s either more of that,” Eddie said, “or you can man that turret control. It’s your choice.”

  Their shuttle climbed vertically and pointed toward another lane of traffic; this one had oncoming ships moving toward them.

  Haylek had to turn away. He would rather look at the turret panel and figure out its operation than keep looking at the suicidal flying. Looking over the controls, Haylek began fiddling with the panel. Fortunately, it did not take him long to figure it out. A display came on over the panel that showed the incoming aggressors approaching their aft. The ships were slickly shaped; with elongated wings that had cannons perched on top of them. Red and yellow colored lights cycled along its body, indicating it was a police ship of some kind.

  Using the targeting computer, he moved the digital crosshairs over it. Hesitantly, he began to fire.

  “That’s the spirit! Shoot them down! Make them sizzle!” Eddie ballyhooed.

  Haylek watched the stream of accelerated proton fire stream out toward the pursuing ship. The beams went wide, missing the target—but it was enough to put the aggressors on notice that they were going to have get defensive.

  The shuttle began to slow its pursuit and dropped farther away. As their ship banked and turned, another police ship came into view and joined the chase. Suddenly, Haylek noticed the two ships began to close in rapidly.

  “I’m maneuvering so you can get a better shot,” Eddie said. “Fire away, mate!”

  There was a flash on the display and he felt a sudden jolt as the transport buckled. There was another flash, and this time the transport banked hard and sparks flew from somewhere nearby. He shielded his eyes, but felt something burn his arm and yelped in pain.

  “You okay?” Eddie called.

  Haylek looked down at his arm; it had some black marks on it and it stung, but it was bearable. “I’m fine.”

  “Well, you better get back to shooting, ’cause now you got their attention!”

  He looked at the display and was about to target one of the police ships, but a sudden jolt knocked him hard in his chair. His side struck the armrest and it hurt badly. He nursed his ribs and groaned in pain.

  “Sorry, mate,” Eddie said. “Had to make a sudden move there.”

  Haylek glared at Eddie, and then turned back to the display. If those ships did not stop chasing them, they were going to die.

  At that moment, he noticed Freeze peaking his head through the cabin door, a frightened look evident on his face.

  “Freeze! Bring the terminal over here quick!”

  Freeze ran off and returned with the terminal. On Haylek’s instruction, he helped him interface it to the transport’s firing computer. They huddled together over the display, enhancing the onboard targeting program.

  The transport buckled again
and they had to quickly grab onto the terminal to prevent it from crashing onto to the floor.

  “I… uh, I think it’s ready,” Freeze said.

  Haylek queued the aimbot program and let it execute. On the screen, he could see the program trying to target the incoming police ships. The digital crosshairs shifted across the screen zigzagging erratically—but it did not fire the weapon.

  “Why doesn’t it shoot?” Freeze said.

  Suddenly, as if the program itself heard him, beams of protons flashed and struck one of the police ships. Just as it began to drop from view, the crosshairs locked onto the other ship and rapidly fired. Both ships disappeared.

  “Sizzle sizzle! Two flamerinoes! Good job!” Eddie exclaimed.

  Haylek closed his eyes, having mixed feelings about shooting them. He felt like he was going to be sick again.

  “Get ready, there’s more coming!” Eddie said.

  Freeze pointed at the screen. Haylek looked at it and could see a new group of a dozen police ships closing in on them. The digital crosshairs began trying to track the targets, but its movement abruptly stopped. There was a flash on his terminal and he could see a coredump generated from the aimbot program.

  “It crashed!” Freeze said.

  “I know!” Haylek said.

  “Then reload it!”

  “Shut up! I know!” Haylek said as he tapped away madly at the surfaceboard.

  “What is that?” Freeze said suddenly, pointing at his chest.

  Haylek stopped tapping the surfaceboard and looked down at himself. Under the beads of his shirt, he could see a glow. He reached inside and pulled out the source of the light, it was the jewel from Chorus’ necklace. He was instantly mesmerized by the kaleidoscope of colors that danced inside the crystal. In the palm of his hand, he could feel its warmth pulsating in waves against his skin, it had a strange euphoric feeling to it.

  “Why’s it doing that?” Freeze said as he dreamily stared it.

  Haylek shook his head. “I don’t know… but I kind of like it.” The last he found himself saying without thinking.

  At that moment, he saw a thin vapor exude from the crystal. The wispy white cloud began to move with a purpose to the top of the turret station’s panel. It swirled and condensed itself into a solid human form. Its transparent vaporous color darkened and the tiny details that made up Chorus’ body materialized.

  She wore a different outfit; it was still early twentieth century, but it was a black party dress this time. They stared dumbfounded at the six-inch miniature version of her standing there staring back at them. It was like something out of a fairy tale.

  “You’re seeing this too, right?” Freeze broke the silence.

  “Yes, I see the fairy,” Haylek confirmed.

  “Waverider—you need to get ready to take control of the shuttle,” she said to him.

  “Who are you guys talking to?” Eddie called back to them from the pilot seat.

  Haylek gave her a confused look. “What do you mean? Eddie’s piloting the ship, not me!”

  “Not for much longer,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

  Suddenly, a blue flash of light outside the window caused the ship to buckle. The impact from the enemy fire sent sparks flying inside the cabin from Eddie’s pilot station. Smoke began to fill the cabin and they both coughed until the ship’s ventilation system automatically pumped it out. When it cleared, Haylek went over to check on Eddie.

  “Are you—” he began to ask, only to be shocked from the black burn marks and blood that covered Eddie’s face. He instinctively felt his neck for a pulse, but he could not detect one.

  “I think he’s dead,” he said.

  Chorus suddenly appeared standing on his shoulder; her voice was loud despite her tiny form.

  “Both of you listen to me,” she said. “We don’t have much time. You have to follow my instructions exactly and without question. If you hesitate at all, you will not survive this. Do you understand me?”

  Haylek and Freeze nodded. The ship buckled again and Haylek felt himself tense up in anticipation for another explosion, but the ship held itself together this time.

  “We must hurry, we don’t have much time,” she said. “Get Eddie out of the seat and lay him down gently.”

  They did as instructed, unstrapping Eddie from the seat and laying him flat on the floor. As he dropped his legs to the ground, Haylek could hear a groan.

  “He’s alive?” Haylek said, hopeful.

  “Yes. He will be okay,” Chorus assured. “Get in the pilot seat, Waverider. Freeze, go get The Doc—together you must get the turret program functioning again. I will help you both.”

  She jumped down to the ground and her form began to fade into the white vapor again. The white smoke swirled in place and then split in two. The two clouds twisted and condensed into separate human forms. Before long, two even smaller versions of Chorus stood there. The two of them looked at Haylek with a grave expression.

  “I will help you, Waverider,” one of them said.

  “And Freeze, I will help you,” the other said.

  “But we must hurry,” they both said in unison. “The time that we have left is almost up.”