“I have an idea!” This was from Jinx on Killer.
“What is it?” I yelled. The dots were imminent. Stalking us. I was going to die at the mercy of ten nude aliens with tentacled guns. No one could have predicted this ultimate demise.
“You’re in suits. They aren’t.” Jinx was listing facts, not giving us a clear plan.
“So what?” Varn was panicking. He tried to find a way out, but we were at a dead end.
“Stand back!” Jinx advised us, and I didn’t understand what he meant until the first blast struck the Squid.
“What the hell was that?” Luther asked.
“It’s Jinx; he’s trying to puncture the hull,” I told them.
“He’s going to kill us all!” Varn shouted.
“Calm yourselves,” Jinx told us through the speakers. “There’s no active shields. All I need to do is breach the hull, and the Velibar will be sucked into space.”
“Along with us,” Varn murmured.
I glanced at the hall, seeing one of the Velibar round the corner. His weapon burned red. They were prepared to fire. “Do it, Jinx. Cut her open like a can of tuna.”
The floor trembled as he continued to assault the hull. Finally, it worked. The opening in the exterior of the Squid spread wide ten meters away, revealing the mysterious liquid lining and a mixture of flickering loose wires. The vacuum took over, sucking the Velibar from their positions. We gripped as tightly as we could to the computer screens in the corridor, watching the aliens scramble for the exit, screaming in agony as they were torn from their home and tossed into the cold blackness of space.
My fingers couldn’t handle it any longer. I slipped and flew off my feet, diving through the hull’s wound. I sped from the Squid, spinning slowly. The others were right behind me, and I glanced up, nearly barreling into a lifeless Velibar. His tentacles were frozen, his eyes bloodshot. They were all dead.
Pilgrim appeared directly above me, and I smiled as a net lowered from her belly. Killer was squatter, painted in green, and hovered beside my Racer.
“Looking for a ride?” Jade laughed, and as much as I wanted to join her, I wasn’t ready after the close call. I stared at the giant Squid as I clutched the net, lifting into the safety of the Racer. We were unharmed. We’d also managed to secure the locations and imperative details about our enemy’s fleet.
Mission successful.
____________
Every time I closed my eyes, I pictured the Velibar grasping at Varn from the pool of water. They were an interesting race, and now that R11 had spent almost a week analyzing our finds, we knew so much more about them. They lived in the pools in shifts, and we estimated that particular Squid had either been disabled or suffered a mechanical issue a decade before.
Surprisingly, they’d survived the duration in their water habitat, meaning they had a reliable source of food. I wondered what they ate but tried not to give it much thought. Our trip to Refuge had gone smoothly since our delay, and we’d only lost a few hours recovering from the mission.
“Do you think Holland’s at one of these sites?” Jade asked me as I entered the room. She sat at the table, drinking a cup of tea.
"I bet he is.” I flopped to the seat beside her and reached for her PersaTab. She had three locations opened in her mapping program, and I scrolled through them. “They assume the Velibar were trying to open the gateway from somewhere closer than their home planet. We’re hypothesizing this is it?” I pointed to the last open window on the Tab.
“That’s what we think. Three habitable planets in range. Young system, and the most data. R11 thinks these are population numbers,” she said. I read the information screen and saw the number was in excess of twenty billion. “I want to understand why your grandfather is working with them.”
“You and me both.”
“Is it hard?”
I contemplated her question. “I’d always felt abandoned. But the reality is, I was a kid with a Pod Sprinter. Not life and death stuff. I was so selfish. Before he left on Obelisk, we had a disagreement. He tried to be kind, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. All he wanted was to explore Proxima, to take our people past the Primaries’ hold and into a new future. But I didn’t know any of that. I felt like he was rejecting me.”
“Maybe there’s more to the story,” Jade said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. That’s up to you to find out.” Jade rose and rinsed her cup. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts.”
I remained at the table, scanning her Tab. I skipped to the second map location and wondered what was waiting there. It was the closest position to our solar system, making it the most probable spot for their invasion fleet to be waiting. If Holland had escaped through the gateway, he would be there. If he’d entered the wormhole created by the Core explosion, he was most likely dead.
I preferred to think he’d managed to survive the journey in his Pod before it vanished. I considered sending these details to Bryson, but he’d act impulsively. I could imagine Bryson venturing off on his own while trying to fly an FTL mod solo. The Board would probably honor his wishes, and I couldn’t have the CEO of SeaTech throwing himself into danger like that.
I found my way to the cockpit and tagged Luther out.
“R11, can you send me the files containing Preston Lewis’ statement at the end of the Race?” I asked the robot.
“Captain, I have to charge. May I be excused?” The black and red robot worked his magic, and within moments, the message chimed its arrival on my dash.
“Yes. I’ll catch you later,” I told him.
“Not if I catch you first,” he replied, and exited the room.
I played the footage, reliving that dreadful day again. This was the first time I’d allowed myself to watch
