Alpha Rising by G. L. Douglas

Author:G. L. Douglas [Douglas, G. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: future world, cs lewis, believable science fiction, Science Fiction, future, distant worlds, Futuristic, hope symbol
ISBN: 9780595411009
Google: 3-2PMAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 2546297
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2006-12-13T19:39:17+00:00

*****

The big ship roared from Colosse, barely escaping the waterspouts. When the flight path leveled off, Ivy and Obbo came from the environmental module into the main cabin and brought Yin and Yang with them.

Star motioned for Yin and Yang to look at the viewscreen. Their city had been spared the waterspouts’ fury, but the sanctuary and the landing pad where Alpha had been parked were destroyed.

“We’ve never experienced waterspouts of such magnitude,” said Yang. “I sensed evil.”

“Yes, I did too,” Star replied.

Yin changed the subject. “Ivy told us more about your mission and that we can hear the journal reading for the next planet.”

With the journal in hand, Star and the five others gathered mid ship in the alcove wall hammocks. “Planet Zarephath is next.” She opened the book and scanned the page. “There’s a glassworks factory, and it says they’ve used their planet’s minerals in ways thought impossible.”

“No, no, not Zarephath. Not the time to go to Zarephath,” Ivy warned.

Star sighed. “We can’t keep rerouting. We’re two days behind.”

Ivy waved her small finger. “You better check. Not the time to go.”

Star returned to the cockpit. “Okay, I’ll check it out, but we’re almost there.”

Yin grasped Ivy’s little hand. “Why shouldn’t we go?”

“Specter angry. Fiery furnaces, people die.” She stood and walked in a circle with her hands clasped behind her back. “Furnaces spewing, spewing. Specter angry.”

Yang looked into Ivy’s eyes. “How do you know what’s going on elsewhere? Have you been there?”

“Zarephath comes to me!” she said.

Ivy’s vision stopped instantly when something hit the ship that sounded like golfball-sized popcorn exploding in a metal bag. Dark splats plastered the cockpit windshield, coming harder and faster by the second, and the view fogged to a sheet of silvery gray.

Star turned to alert the passengers to go back to the E-module, but they were already gone.

Bach yelled above the noise. “Where did this stuff come from? We detected nothing.” He checked a data feed. “Something just triggered it and now we’re in a huge oil cloud orbiting the planet like a moon. Gotta break free, or we’ll shut down.”

What should have been a clear view of astral space was now black as night. Bach increased engine power in an attempt to escape, but the massive thrusters stalled with a shudder, leaving the Kingship adrift in greasy smog.

Star’s fingers flew across a keyboard. “There has to be a way to escape it.”

Bach grabbed a hand-held device. “There are no emergency instructions for restarting engines in something like this.” Using an earphone with recorded instructions, he rattled off options to Star, but everything they tried failed. He looked at his watch in disgust—Earth time—another two hours lost.

Star ran a sim for an atypical approach to restart the engines. Within seconds, the ship lurched, lights flickered, and the thrusters ignited. They emerged from the black tomb and re-entered clear space.

Bach launched two hand-sized drones to clean the exterior windows and check for engine contamination. The shiny metal devices, shaped like giant jacks from

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