The Endless Sky by Adam P. Knave

Author:Adam P. Knave [Knave, Adam P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Creative Guy Publishing
Published: 2018-04-05T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

THE LIGHT ENGULFED THEM.

A dizzying transition. The scalding fires of the edges of atmosphere. Mud and Bee headed toward a planet at a velocity so close to the speed of light they shared a mailbox.

As they entered the light, he called up his GravPack’s HUD and selected the nearest large gravity well, building an arc away from it. He knew the selection wouldn’t kick in until they were already in the edges of the planet’s atmo.

Mud and Bee reentered their home universe, GravPacks screaming as they tried to shield away the heat of an atmosphere catching fire around them while calculating and compensating for the turn Mud had set up.

Neither of them could even consciously follow the curve as they slingshot away from the planet, pushing back out of the atmosphere and rocketing away from it. The extra speed, and the way the GravPacks adjusted for it, pushed them above light speed again for a few seconds, long enough for Mud to take stock.

Not dead. In what looked to be the right universe. Hurtling away from the planet at about a sixty-degree angle and traveling far too fast. Mud cancelled all ties from the GravPacks and then reestablished them back to the planet they’d avoided, this time with regular physics in mind.

“What did we just do?” Bee asked as they slowed and started to turn.

“The HUD selector software takes a tick or two to respond,” Mud told her. “Normally it’s a small enough lag in the system you won’t ever notice it. But if you know you’re going too fast to be able to react, well, you can plan for it. Sort of.”

“I don’t want to know how you drill for that, or what happens if you’re wrong. But I kind of do, you know?” Bee checked her sensor equipment, making sure nothing had gotten damaged in their universe reentry.

“Set up someone below to catch, really,” Mud said, as if that settled matters.

“At that speed? What if they miss?” All of her equipment checked out. She looked at the planet they had returned to, trying to place it from the stars nearby.

“Have you seen my dad miss with a GravPack?”

“No, Mud, I need you to realize this wasn’t normal. For any child. At all.” She laughed nervously, stopping suddenly when she realized where they were.

Mud saw her face and clicked his tongue, “Yup. Welcome home.” Though born on Trasker Four, Bee had moved, with what survived of her planet’s population, to Bercuser when the Tsyfarians invaded. With the matter settled, Bee knew of a group exploring a migration back to what remained of Trasker Four, so they could rebuild there. She didn’t blame them.

They came in for a landing and stood on a small hill, mist gathering below them. Bee scanned the mist and compared readings with the other data she’d collected. “Bercuser must have been relocating. That’s how it—”

“That’s how it changes systems, yeah,” Mud agreed, shaking his head at the unfolding of the universe.

“You knew?”

“No way!” he told her, laughing.

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