The Galactic Chronicles

Mars Born-1

Mars Born

Chapter OneJas Harrington went through her training moves. Left jab. Right jab. Right kick. Spin. Left kick. Weave. Right hook. Left hook. Weave. Right kick. She’d made something that vaguely resembled a punching bag from a rolled and taped up bunk mat, and she’d hung it from the ceiling in the starship’s dining room. It was the only place on board that was large enough for her to train in. Between meals, she would detach the tables and benches from the floor and stack them against the walls before starting long exercise sessions.

The center of the punching bag contained a long plastic bag filled with water, but the bag wasn’t quite heavy enough, and it swung wildly at Jas’ last, low kick. She side-stepped as the bag swung back, and she kicked it again, hard, as it passed her. On its second return she punched the bag, grunting with the effort. The bag swung away again, and as it came back, she stepped up to meet it and began jabbing it with increasingly fast blows.

Her brow glistened and her breath came in soft pants. Her arms and legs ached and her knuckles and wrists were sore, but she didn’t want to stop. The exercise felt good, though no matter how fast or hard she punched and kicked, the effort didn’t dispel her feelings of frustration.

Letting loose something between a gasp and a cry, she jabbed hard with her right fist. A soft pop followed, and water gushed from the bottom of the bag, drenching her feet.

“Krat,” she exclaimed, backing away from the quickly spreading puddle. The punching bag swung like a pendulum, shedding water like an out-of-control fire hose.

Carl Lingiari was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, concentrating on an interface he’d balanced on his knees. “Woah,” he said as he heard Jas’ exclamation and saw the spilling water. He scrambled to his feet. “Must have been some punch, Jas,” he said, his eyebrows raised.

Her feet had been soaked in the initial burst of water, so she gave up trying to avoid it. She stood in the puddle, her hands on her hips, watching the slowly swinging bag. She drew her arm across her forehead to wipe off the sweat. “No, not really. The plastic bag was too weak. Wish I had some proper training equipment.” Pulling off the surgical tape she’d wrapped around her knuckles, she went over to Carl, her feet squishing in her wet sneakers. “What are you doing?” she asked as she trod on the heels of her shoes to remove them. She bent down to pull off her socks.

“Just the usual,” Carl replied. “Checking to see if there’s been any mention of the Shadows in the media. Isn’t it about time you gave the training a rest? You’ve been going at it a couple of hours now, and you were in here all morning too, weren’t you?”

Gazing down at her red, battered knuckles and lifting one lip ruefully, Jas replied, “Yeah, maybe you’re right. It’s just that I don’t have anything else to do. It’s so boring here. We’ve been aboard this ship for three days. Three days. And we can’t seem to decide anything. Every discussion we have goes around in circles. We’re all cooped up on this starship talking, and meanwhile the Shadows are on Earth killing more and more people, replacing them with replicants, taking over the Government, companies, media, everything.” She wrung out her socks over the puddle in the center of the room. “If we don’t do something soon, I think I’m going to explode.”

“Hard to know what to do until we hear from the Transgalactic Council.”

“I know. I know now that the Lees’ house is destroyed, any reply from the Council is going to be lost. And I know that we have no idea who Sayen’s parents sent the message to.” She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. “I get it. But knowing all that doesn’t make things any easier. We have to decide something, and soon. Or else we might as well say we’ve done our part and wash our hands of the whole problem. Just find ourselves a little corner of the galaxy to wait out the storm, and hope that if we ever return to Earth, it isn’t inhabited by Shadows.”

“After what’s happened over the last few months,” Carl said, “that part about finding a quiet corner of the galaxy doesn’t sound so crazy. ’Cept I’d just want to pick up Flux first and say goodbye to my old home.”

Jas’ heart ached at her friend’s words. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to know your parents had been killed by Shadows. She reached out to softly touch Carl’s upper arm. “Whatever we do, we’ll pick up Flux. We’ll insist on it.”

“Yeah. Little fella’ll be wondering where I’ve got to.”

They stood quietly for a moment. Jas didn’t remove her hand from her friend’s arm. They both lifted their eyes and their gaze met. Slowly, they leaned closer. Jas closed her eyes and froze. She was trying to force her way through a sickening dread and not turn away or stop what might be about to happen to not freeze Carl out as she had done so many times before.

At that second the door opened, and Phelan Lee peered around it.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, backing out.

“No, it’s fine,” said Jas as she hastily drew back from Carl, avoiding his wounded look. Relief eased her churning stomach. “What is it?”

“We’re having a meeting.” Phelan eyed the puddle in the middle of the dining room. He went to a small hatch in the center of the floor and pushed it down with his foot. The hatch popped open, revealing a floor drain. The water flowed away. “I thought you two would want to come along.”

“You bet we would,” Jas said, too brightly.

***