“I’m losing navigation,” Tamret said, punching furiously at the console. “I can’t even begin plotting a tunnel until the nav system reboots. Six minutes.” Her voice was hollow. We all knew that Steve was good, but even he couldn’t dodge weapons from four different saucers for six minutes.
“There’s a hidden weapon on board,” I told Tamret. “If you can unlock it, maybe it will save us.”
“Or maybe it will kill us,” Mi Sun said.
“That is a real possibility,” I agreed. “But those four ships out there will kill us for sure if we don’t pull a rabbit out of our hat.”
Tamret nodded and began working to decrypt the secret weapon. Meanwhile Steve did his best to avoid more blows, but we still took a few hits. I fired off our weapons as best I could, but we were barely even scratching them. As near as I could tell, they weren’t even trying to avoid our fire. We were a mosquito fighting a bear. We might get a few stings in, but sooner or later we were going to get squashed.
I kept looking over at Mi Sun, who was working the communications station. Surely they were going to call on us to surrender. I didn’t much like the sound of that, but we had escaped from enough tight spots to think of it as a reasonable option. If they would stop shooting at us, I could take the powder and hope for the best. That was a situation I could deal with. But Mi Sun sat staring at nothing. No one seemed interested in asking for our surrender.
Then two things happened simultaneously. “I’ve got it!” Tamret shouted. “It’s some kind of shield-buster. This looks like just what we need.”
The other thing was that we took a direct hit that knocked out all remaining propulsion systems.
• • •
Losing the navigation had been bad. Losing attitude control was catastrophic. The ship careened through space, knocking us around the insides like popcorn inside a popper. I was strapped to my chair, as were Steve, Tamret, and Mi Sun, but the others were getting hit hard. I lost all ability to lock on with my weapons. If I had taken the powder when it had first occurred to me, I might have been able to fire the superweapon even under those circumstances. Now I couldn’t even get my fingers to hit the right buttons. I’d made the wrong call, and now we were all going to die.
Somehow, miraculously, Steve righted the ship. “I’m holding everything together with temporary plasma clamps,” he told me, “but they’re not going to last long. Power is low. If you’ve got something to fight back with, do it now.”
I wasted no time. I accessed the secret weapon, hoping that it would somehow be enough to slow them down, and I tried to establish a hold on the nearest cruiser. I got a perfect lock and fired.
Nothing happened.
A weapons-malfunction message was flashing across my console. The text was advising me to check the operations manual, but we weren’t going to live long enough to even find an operations manual. With nothing else to do, I fired a volley of PPB bursts, hoping to slow the attacking ship down. I watched, expecting the five shots to bounce off like they were completely harmless. One. Two. Three. Four.
The fifth one caused a massive explosion along the side of the saucer. Flames spewed out of a gash in its side as oxygen gushed into space. An instant later the flames were gone as emergency plasma shields sealed the leak, but the saucer was wobbling through the void. It was out of commission.
I checked my readings. I had no idea how I’d done that. A more powerful PPB against a weaker ship, hit in just the right circumstances, might cause a noticeable amount of damage, but a crippling blow like that? Impossible.
I looked over my screen, trying to figure out why those blasts had been so effective. The shield busting tech hadn’t deployed, so why had we been able to damage that ship? Was it some sort of experimental PPB? Had I somehow hit a dark-matter missile just as it was launching? It would have been like hitting a bullet with another bullet—it could theoretically happen but I doubted we would be that lucky. It had to be something else.
While I frantically reviewed the data, another of the Phandic cruisers took a hit. A blast of energy hit it from below and burst through topside, spewing flame and debris. The ship, a second before illuminated with thousands of lights, went dark. It had suffered a complete power loss, and I hadn’t even fired at it.
Slow though I was, I now understood at least the basics of what had to be going on. There was another player involved, and if it wasn’t working with us, it was at least working against our enemies.
While I stumbled to my feet, Mi Sun pulled up an image for our viewscreen. A rectangular Confederation ship was now rearing up behind us, firing at the two remaining cruisers, both of which were withdrawing rapidly.
A second later Mi Sun announced that we had an incoming transmission. An image came up on the screen from the inside of the Confederation ship’s bridge.
“You look like you could use some assistance,” Captain Qwlessl said, her massive, protruding eyes sparkling with delight. She raised her trunk and pointed toward us. She was one of the first aliens I’d ever met, and she was still one of the strangest-looking beings by Earth standards, but I didn’t know that I’d ever been happier to see anyone’s face. Captain Qwlessl showing up under any circumstances was good news—in an emergency it was great news.
“Your timing could have been better,” Dr. Roop said, looking very pleased. “But it could hardly have been more dramatic.”
“We’ve had some delays,” Captain Qwlessl said, “and things have been quite dangerous, but everything is now under control. In fact, we were escaping the system when we picked up your fight and had to backtrack to get you. You tunneled in directly in front of our pursuers.”
“What are you even doing here?” I asked.
“I guess you didn’t get our comm beacon,” she said, “so you don’t know that this part of the plan is no longer necessary. We received some intelligence that prompted us to act immediately, so we were not able to meet you at the agreed rendezvous.”
“I don’t understand,” Dr. Roop said.
“One moment,” said the captain. “Some friends want to say hello.”
Nayana and Urch stepped into the image.
It’s hard to describe what it was like to see them, safe on the bridge of Captain Qwlessl’s ship. They looked unharmed and happy—at least Nayana looked happy. It was hard to tell with Urch’s warthog alien face, though his mouth was open in a way I thought might be a smile.
They had been with me on the Kind Disposition, and when it was destroyed, I was sure they were dead. Then I’d learned they were actually being held prisoner, and while that’s certainly an improvement over dead, it was no reason to celebrate. Since then, all my energy had been directed toward breaking them and the other prisoners free. Now there they were. The enormity of what it meant washed over me, and I had to grab on to the back of a chair to keep my still-wobbly legs from buckling.
“Zeke, I’m very cross with you,” Nayana announced. “I told you this trip was not going to be safe.” She looked a little thin, and like everyone else around me she probably hadn’t been getting much sleep, but otherwise she looked fine.
“You were right,” I told her, feeling myself choke up a little.
“I always am.”
“It’s good to see you, Nayana,” I managed.
“I imagine it is.”
“Captain Qwlessl,” I managed, “if you have them, does that mean you have the others?”
The captain nodded at someone and the image broadened. Also on the bridge were Captain Hyi and Ghli Wixxix. The rescue had been successful. Captain Qwlessl had gone in with a Phand-crushing battleship and yanked out the director by force. We now had exactly what we wanted. We were going to topple Junup, save the Confederation, and liberate Earth. It really was all over. I would not have to take the powder and roll the die again. I could stop feeling like the lives of millions rested on my actions.
The good guys had won.
“We’re going to lance you in, and then we shall return to Co
nfederation Central,” Captain Qwlessl said. She must have understood the look on my face because she added, “I believe about ten minutes after we arrive, this conflict will be resolved.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
* * *
You’re disappointed that you don’t have to do anything, aren’t you?”
We were sitting in one of the crew recreational lounges, finally wearing clean clothes—Confederation styles, but the almost chino pants and long-sleeved almost T-shirts might not have looked too out of place in a big Earth city. I’d transferred my die and powder to my new pockets. I was also still holding on to Villainic’s stun grenade, which I now thought of as good luck, though it might just as easily have been bad luck. I decided to go for the optimistic interpretation. After all, we were enjoying an extended period of time with no one trying to experiment on us, lock us up, or generally make us dead.
That was just the beginning of the good news, though. We were all together and we were all safe. Sure, a bunch of Phands could try to attack us, but from what I’d seen of this ship, we didn’t have much to worry about. Captain Qwlessl had stopped four Phandic cruisers in their tracks. Nothing short of an armada could take us on.
Our enemies could, I supposed, be putting together an armada at this very moment, but right now there were no signs of that. It would have taken an effort to remember the last time my life had been this stress-free. I sat with a glass of alien soda in my hand, talking with my friends. I was even happy to be talking to Nayana—maybe especially happy. I didn’t care if she was criticizing me. What was a little teasing when compared to safety, cleanliness, and alien soda?
“Admit it, Zeke,” she said. “You’ve reached the point where you cannot imagine a major event unfolding on the galactic stage unless you have a hand in it.” Nayana still looked a little frail to me, but already less drawn than when I’d seen her over the viewscreen. Back when we’d first met, she’d had the radiant self-assurance of a Bollywood star, and while her appearance hadn’t changed much, she seemed somehow less confident, less certain the world would automatically bend to her whims.
That didn’t stop her from giving me a hard time.
“He did have a hand in just about everything,” Tamret said. “You missed a lot after you let yourself get captured.”
“Yes, I heard about all that silliness,” she said, dismissing our last stay on Confederation Central, and the hunt for the Hidden Fortress, with a wave of her hand. “And that is part of what I mean. I am not being critical, you understand. I don’t deny that you’ve participated in certain aspects of recent galactic events. That is why I think being put on the sidelines must be challenging for you.”
If I had to be completely honest, I’d admit she wasn’t entirely wrong. After everything we’d been through, having a bunch of adults show up and simply announce that things were now under control was a little disappointing—like someone had gone back on a promise. I didn’t feel left out so much as I felt like the rules had suddenly changed without warning. I had thought there would be no choice but to risk death, yet again, by rolling the twenty-sided die and then going down to some supermax Phandic prison to rescue, among other people, the one being who could bring the Phandic empress to her knees. I wasn’t disappointed that I’d been spared having to go on that mission; I was relieved, and that relief made me feel guilty, like I was trying to get out of something that was my responsibility.
Fortunately, no one said I had to be completely honest, so I felt free to admit nothing. Besides, I knew the situation was in good hands. These weren’t just any adults who were now in charge. It was Dr. Roop and Captain Qwlessl—with Urch backing them up. Plus there was Director Ghli Wixxix, who had once crossed the galaxy to ask for my help, and whom I had crossed the galaxy to rescue. The fact that I hadn’t needed to rescue her, or do anything else, was okay by me. Kids doing nothing while adults took care of a crisis—that was the way it was supposed to be.
I couldn’t shake that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. I told myself there would be no other shoe. There were no more shoes left. The shoe supply was depleted, and the galaxy was unshod. I just wished I could really believe it.
There was also the fact that I wanted one more chance to show Tamret what I could do. If I were busy Hulking my way through an enemy prison, rescuing our friends and prisoners of cosmic significance, I wouldn’t have to think about how she’d chosen her world over staying with me.
“I’m with Zeke on this one,” Steve said. He was drinking a glass of water in which dozens of little fish were swimming. He took a sip, chewed for a bit, and set the glass down. “I want to be doing something. This sitting about on our bottoms is for tossers.”
“I never said that,” I told him.
“You didn’t have to, mate. I understand.”
“Count me in,” Tamret said.
Alice, who had been sitting with her legs folded under her, now stretched out and looked excited. “Awesome. The sooner we get everything on track, the sooner we can all go home. What’s the plan?”
“There is no plan,” I told them. “We’re with the good guys, and they’re doing good-guy things. All they have to do is get to Confederation Central and tell everyone Ghli Wixxix is alive and Junup destroyed the Kind Disposition while trying to kill her. No fighting or breaking in or out of places. We can trust them to handle this.”
“You sure about that, mate?” Steve asked. “They haven’t been so keen on talking to us since we came on board, have they?”
“There’s plenty we don’t know,” Tamret agreed. “Why didn’t Captain Qwlessl meet us when she was supposed to? Why did she decide to rescue the prisoners herself?”
These were good questions, but so far there had been no answers. We had been welcomed aboard and given the run of the ship, but when I’d told Captain Qwlessl and Director Ghli Wixxix I wanted to let them know everything we had experienced, they had dismissed me. They hadn’t been unkind, but they had seemed busy and distracted, and after all I’d done, I didn’t like being treated as though I were an annoying kid trying to pretend he belonged with the grown-ups.
Still, I knew they had things to do, and while the information I had was useful, it wasn’t vital to the next phase of the mission. The fact that a bunch of rebel Phands wanted to destroy Confederation Central in order to get rid of Junup wouldn’t matter if we got rid of Junup first. It was only going to become important if we couldn’t expose Junup, and if that happened, there would be a lot of other bad things going on.
“I am rather surprised they do not wish to hear our after-action report,” Charles said.
“And so, to show our displeasure, you think we should mutiny against Captain Qwlessl?” Nayana asked. “Do I understand you correctly?”
“If necessary.” Steve nodded thoughtfully. “I’d love to see how something this big handles. And Zeke here wants a go at those weapons.”
I sighed. I knew they were kidding, mostly. “We’re just going to have to live with being civilians. At least for a little while.”
They all knew what I meant. When this was over, and we returned to our homes, nothing would be the same. Everyone would now know about alien life, but almost everyone on Earth who had real experience with galactic culture was sitting in the lounge on board this ship. The chances were good that we were all going to be asked to play our part as our worlds adjusted to being part of a wider galactic culture.
Just then our data bracelets pinged us. Captain Qwlessl and Director Ghli Wixxix wanted us in a briefing in half an hour. “Looks like we’re back in the inner circle,” I said.
“I’ll table the plan for taking over the ship,” Steve said. “For now.”
Before I could respond, a second message came through on my bracelet. Dr. Roop wanted to talk to me privately before that meeting. He asked me to meet him immediately in the conference room.
He didn’t say to keep it a secret, so I told the others where I was going.
“I’ll go
with you,” Tamret said.
“We’ll all go,” Steve said.
“Then it isn’t really a private meeting,” I told them, trying to avoid looking guilty. I knew what Dr. Roop wanted. He wanted to know about my Former abilities and the die. He was too smart not to have figured out that something was up, and I was surprised he hadn’t asked me before. Maybe he’d been getting questions from Captain Qwlessl and the others, and now he wanted to know if he needed to cover for me. “I’ll let you guys know if he has anything interesting to say.”
“You sure?” Steve asked guardedly.
“We’re talking about Dr. Roop,” I said.
Steve didn’t respond. Did being benched make him suspect even Dr. Roop of being up to no good? He was the one adult I was always going to trust, and the truth was, I was happy to be able to tell him about the powder and the die. Maybe he could use the information as a starting point to figure out how to get our abilities back.
“He’ll be fine,” Tamret said. “I’ll be there to protect him.”
“What about it being a private meeting?” Alice asked.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to exclude me,” she said.
Nayana rolled her eyes. “Dr. Roop is just being practical. He knows he can convince us to see reason, but Tamret is going to do what she wants no matter what anyone says.”
“And don’t forget it,” she said with a smile.
“I don’t have any secrets,” I lied, “but I think it’s probably better to do what Dr. Roop says. If there’s anything important, I’ll let you guys know.”
Without waiting for a response, I left the room. I didn’t dare turn back to see Tamret’s expression.
I used my bracelet to guide me through the ship, which was enough like other Confederation ships I’d been on to seem familiar, but different enough that I would get lost if I weren’t paying close attention. When I reached the conference room, Dr. Roop was already seated, but he rose to greet me. He then closed the door, locked it, and activated a keyboard from his data bracelet. After about thirty seconds of typing, an electrical blue charge seemed to coat the walls. The effect lasted less than a second and then was gone. I didn’t know for sure, but my guess was that Dr. Roop had just deployed some sort of antisurveillance technology.