Star Runners: Dark Space

Chapter 19

19

"So, is it Robert, Barry or Douglas?" Josh asked, settling into the copilot station. "It's getting a little hard to sort these things out."

Foster looked at his tablet as Matta escorted their new crew member to his quarters.

"Does it really matter?" he asked after a long pause. "You know why I'm on this journey. I know why you're doing this. Orvin has his reasons as well. We don't have to know everything about one another. We just have to work together until this thing's done."

"Fair enough. I assume you two worked together pretty closely at some point?"

Foster looked up from his tablet. "I thought that was clear enough. Why do you ask?"

"Because I want to know if we can trust him. Odds are we're going to be under fire again in the near future."

"Don't worry about Orvin. As long as there’s even the slightest chance we’ll reach Dark Space, he'll be on board to the end.”

He thought back to the conversation he witnessed on the planet. "So his family was obsessed with finding a route to Dark Space?"

Foster stared at the deck, his eyes glazing over. "For as long as man’s traveled the stars, there’ve been liars and cheats claiming they had the best route or the most appropriate ship or the most efficient drive that could unlock the passage into the Dark.” He paused. “Orvin's family was suckered into a scheme like so many others. I met him shortly after that ... when he needed money to pay his father's debts."

Josh looked at him, saw a wave of regret drifting over his face as his brow lowered. "And you double-crossed him?"

"Yes," Foster said, his eyes still on the deck. "I did."

Taking a deep breath, Josh whistled as he exhaled. "This journey just got a little more interesting."

"So now you have me here," Orvin said, settling around a glass table twinkling with blue, red and white lights at the back of the Shadow’s bridge, "I'd like to get details on this journey so I can start working out the navigation before we reach the Jarna."

As Matta bounced on one chair, swinging her legs as if she were a child at a playground, Foster avoided Orvin's eye contact. Despite all his confidence, Foster seemed uneasy at the navigator's presence as he took a deep breath and activated the table. It glowed and hummed, filling the air with a crisp green light.

"Very well," Foster said, typing into his tablet. "Our next steps are very simple."

As he spoke, a hologram of the galaxy appeared above the table, one more detailed than anything Josh had ever seen. The stars bathed in Zahlian crimson showed the Imperial worlds comprising much of the known galaxy. Rimming the Zahl Empire was the Frontier—better known in Legion space as the Fringe. Below Zahl space and creeping down one of the arms of the galaxy was a blue cloud of Legion territory with only a sliver bumping against the Imperial border. Josh stared in awe at the size discrepancy between the Zahl and the Legion, shaking his head.

"What's that?” Matta asked, thrusting a finger toward a series of systems colored in gold away from the Zahl.

"That," Foster said with a sigh, "is the Shoborian Coalition. Our next stop."

Orvin nodded, his hand lingering on his chin as he stared at the holographic map. "Yes," he breathed. "That’s where you hope to find Deidra Kowal."

“Who?” Matta asked, her legs still swinging under the chair.

Orvin rolled his eyes. "Does she have to be here?"

"She's part of this crew," Josh said, taking up for his friend. "Just like you are."

Matta crossed her arms over her chest, raising her chin. “That’s right."

Foster held his hands up, attempting to gain their attention. "The Shoborians are known throughout the galaxy for their endless search of knowledge. Their Redemption Library run by their monks is the most significant collection of information in the galaxy. It’s here we will search for Kowal, who designed the Jarna's drive and is our only hope in repairing it to reach Dark Space."

Matta sighed. "Can we speak plainly here?"

"Sure,” he said.

"What exactly is Dark Space?" she asked, her eyes falling across the room. “I’ve heard the legends, but what makes it so different than just curving from Shoborian to Legion territory and back again? I've heard all the myths and ghastly tales, but, really, what's the problem?"

If Matta had fired a flare into a can of gasoline, Josh didn't think she could’ve silenced them more than she did with her question.

"I'd like to know, too," he said, staring at Foster. "It's more than just unexplored space, isn't it?"

Orvin exhaled, his fingers tapping on the table. "It was the obsession of Banekell Don in the early days of the Zahl Empire."

"Oh, not that," Foster said, staring at the ceiling. "Nothing about that man's substantiated."

"They’ve asked the question," Orvin said, glaring at Foster. "I have studied star charts from my father's father since I was a boy, memorizing everything I could. Allow me to answer them.”

Foster sighed. "Very well."

Nodding, Orvin stood and paced, fixated on the map and fiddling with his beard. Pointing at the holographic stars beyond known space, he said, "All of this could be considered Dark Space. Primal. Unexplored. A vast void separated by such distance it would take a thousand years of traveling with a standard Lutimite Drive to reach the nearest stars. Even if you made it that far, you'd have to traverse phenomenon we know little about—black holes, vast nebulae, rogue comets the size of large moons and, of course, the great array of rumors from spirits and angelic creatures to demons lurking in the black.”

"Aliens?" Matta asked.

"Of course."

"We seen them.”

Orvin froze. "What?"

Foster nodded. "A group of creatures led by a former pirate has been hunting Matta and her crew. Could be aliens, mutants—whatever."

"Fascinating," Orvin said, his eyes sparkling as they reflected the holographic map. "What did they look like? What type of technology did they use?"

"They have pitch black skin and glowing yellow eyes," Foster said. "They wear armor able to absorb all energy weaponry and fire acidic gel caps that can melt through a man in an instant. In space, they have some organic or nanotech that eats through shields and—"

"So narrow-minded," Orvin interrupted. "Only thinking about weaponry and technology of war. If these pursuers truly hailed from Dark Space, I want to know how they make the journey.”

"I don't know."

Orvin frowned. "You had to have seen them traveling? Was it a curve in space?"

Foster shook his head. "Nothing like that. It was more like a ... teleport? The ships flickered and vanished. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen."

"That's incredible," Orvin said, locking his fingers in front of his lips. He continued, "Banekell Don was a scientist who went mad, obsessed with begging the Zahl Empire to grant permission to search the darkness."

"How long ago was this?" Josh asked.

"Oh, long before the modern era. The very early days of the Zahl Empire. When the government refused Banekell’s requests, he disappeared only to reappear years later before the Shoborian Coalition. Historical accounts of his request differ, but it seems he believed Shoborian Space to be the perfect jumping off point to exploring the dark.”

"And?" Josh asked, hanging on each word.

"And," Foster blurted out, "they called him a crackpot—wise decision, I'm sure—and he went off with his crazed followers in a convoy, and they all died trying to reach Dark Space."

Orvin sighed. “If you believe that version of the story."

"What do you believe?” Matta asked.

"Banekell sent one transmission back from Dark Space,” Orvin said. "The transmission was allegedly collected and archived in the Shoborian Redemption Library after it went through countless enhancements to clean it up.”

"What did it say?" Matta pressed, resting her elbows on the table.

"It said, ‘There's so many in the Dark.'"

Josh waited for more, but Orvin stood in silence.

"That's it?” he asked.

"Yes."

"That doesn't mean anything."

“Exactly!” Foster clapped his hands.

Orvin glared at him. "I didn't say it 'meant' anything. I only said that's the legend of the transmission."

Foster tapped the table. "Hey! None of that matters. Our first goal will be to reach the Library and find Kowal. Without her expertise, we may never reach Dark Space. We're flying on standard Zahlian lanes to the border, and we'll curve to Shoborian Space from there. Any questions?"

Josh cleared his throat. "Orvin, what do you think we'll find out there?"

The navigator thought for a long moment, his stare flicking from the map to the deck. "I don't know. But I've long feared unlocking Dark Space will forever change what man arrogantly thinks he knows about the universe."

They all sat in silence. Josh thought of the implications of what Orvin said, wondering how the discovery of aliens and a journey into Dark Space would affect the Legion.

"Anyway," Orvin said, his tone shifting to casual as if he were about to shop for groceries, "why don't you show me where the Jarna is supposed to be waiting for us?"

"You don't believe me?" Foster asked.

He snorted. "I believe the ship was once there. If a vessel of such power is still on that planet, I'll be surprised." He nodded toward the map. "Go ahead—show me."

"I'm going to sleep for a couple of hours," Foster said, shutting down the holographic map after Orvin spent the past hour staring at the Frontier world of Avlagsen and the supposed location of the Jarna. "It's going to be a busy couple days. You all better get some rest."

Matta exhaled like a child being released from school, her legs dropping to the deck. She skipped toward the corridor. Josh and Orvin followed her.

"Nice to have you along," Josh said, trying to be friendly to the new passenger. "Glad you're with us."

"I'm not," Orvin shot back. "I'd rather traverse the underworld with demons than travel with Robert again, but I cannot allow him to find a way to Dark Space without me."

He shook his head. "He's not been so bad to us. He just—"

"Don't let your guard down for a second. Once he takes his target—if we make it that far—he's liable to leave us in Dark Space if it suits him." As they walked, Orvin asked, "So how did you end up sailing with him?"

“Long story."

"Aren't they all?" He paused. "You don't seem like an assassin."

"I'm not. I am—well, I used to be a Legion Star Runner."

Orvin shot him a sideways glance. "Used to be?"

"I really don't know anymore."

"Interesting. Make sure you don't turn your back on Robert. Not for a moment. You promise me that, and we might make it back from this quest."

They paused in front of their quarters, the obsidian panels sliding out of the way.

"You think that about Foster—er, Robert?"

Orvin nodded. "You can bet your life on it. Don't trust him."

Matta hopped on her cot, kicking her shoes to the wall. "All we want to do is find our friends. That’s all."

Orvin studied Josh as if seeing him for the first time. "Is that really why you're doing all this? For friends?“

"Mostly.”

"Why?"

"Because they’d do the same for me."

“Where are you from?"

"A place called Earth."

"What a magnificent place that must be to boast such loyalties.”

Images flashed through his mind of Austin and Kadyn, his parents, and all the simple pleasures of living a life on Earth. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined traveling so far from home into the depths of the mysterious void that was deep space.

"I'd march to the gates of hell for my friends," Josh said. "All of them."

Sighing, Orvin said, "How fortunate you are to have such loved ones. I once had ... never mind. Doesn't matter. I truly hope we can make this journey for you and your friends if they’re still out there."

Orvin stared at the deck, his eyes unfocused. When he looked back, his eyes had turned cold. "Remember what I said, Josh. A heartless killer is leading us into the most treacherous space known to man. Watch him. Watch him like a hawk."