Space Unicorn Blues by TJ Berry

Author:TJ Berry
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: space opera, magic, Science Fiction, unicorn, Reason
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2018-07-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Hibernation

Gary felt the Jaggery taking protective measures, curling into itself as each bolt of purple lightning struck its side. Hibernation was meant to be helpful – keeping the creatures inside the ship safe until the threat had passed. But it would leave them stranded in openspace for days, until the ship decided it was safe to come out of lockdown. He coaxed it through the asteroid field, hoping they could keep the Arthur Phillip at bay long enough for one of them to come up with a plan.

Jim sulked in the captain’s chair and for once Gary sympathized. It had been cruel of Jenny to remind him of Cheryl Ann in order to make him stay. Gary didn’t think that they needed Jim at all. Let the man float away between the asteroids if he wanted to. It could only improve things on the ship.

“Any horn yet? Even just a sliver?” asked Jenny, craning her neck up to see his crater. He shook his head. He felt the process working: there was a giddiness in his brain and, dare he say it, a frolic to his step that he hadn’t felt in years. But it would still take hours to make even enough to jump a single AU.

With a shiver, the ship murmured to Gary that the redworms were about to arrive. Even if they got clear of the Arthur Phillip, the worms were now focused on them with a singular goal. Eat.

“Let the Arthur Phillip board us,” suggested Jim. “They’ll jump us back to Reasonspace before the worms get here.”

“No. We can do this,” said Jenny, scrolling rapidly on her tablet. Gary watched to see what she was thinking. As callous a person as Jenny could be, her sense of strategy was incomparable. He’d seen it firsthand at Copernica.

“I should have taken my chances outside,” grumbled Jim.

“You’re safer inside the ship, even if it goes into hibernation,” said Gary. Jenny turned toward him, her face full of realization. He knew immediately what she meant to do.

“Let the Arthur Phillip hit us square on,” she said, but Gary was already on it. He maneuvered the Jaggery into a space between two large rocks and waited.

“What in the hell–” started Jim.

“We have to get the ship to hibernate. Redworms will always head toward a source of heat and light,” she said, flicking on the ship’s intercom. “Buckle up, everyone.” she said. There were no harnesses where Gary stood, but a few shattered unicorn bones were worth the survival of everyone on board. The ship attempted to buck itself out of the way of the incoming lightning, but Gary spoke to it in a soothing voice, convincing it to stay in place with a whispered apology. “By Unamip, I mean you no harm.”

“How about praying for us instead of the damn ship?” said Jim.

“I can do both,” said Gary, not doing both.

The Arthur Phillip’s necromancer saw the opening and cast a colossal spell toward the Jaggery. A half-dozen violet bolts struck the ship at once.

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