Earth Aflame (Earthrise Book 11) by Daniel Arenson

Author:Daniel Arenson [Arenson, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moonclipse
Published: 2019-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Loggerhead, an antique starship shaped like a turtle shell, rocked on the forest floor.

The aliens kept pounding the hull. Claws scratched against the iron. There were no portholes. No viewports. But huddled inside, Marco and Kai could feel every blow, hear every screech.

The two mummified caterpillars, ancient astronauts, fell from their seats. Their desiccated bodies crumbled into dust and bone fragments.

"What a wonderful tomb you found for us!" Kai said.

Marco stood up, panting. Blood dripped down his body from several cuts.

"Enough," he said.

Kai paced the small ship, laughing maniacally. "Great work. Wonderful! We're going to die in here now. Die like those two skeletons. I should never have come to this planet. Fuck! I should have moved back to fucking Bangkok, opened a bar, banged chicks all day, and—"

"Quiet!" Marco said. "Dammit, Kai, shut up. Think. Plan."

Kai only snorted. "Fuck, dude, unless you think a starship from a million years ago can still fly, I'd say we're fucked."

The two men looked at each other. For a moment they were silent.

Then they raced toward the ancient dashboard. The controls were still in good shape, aside from some grime. The starship had been sealed perfectly, airtight like an ancient Egyptian tomb.

"This might still work," Marco said.

"Dude, the Barracuda is thirty years old and falling apart," Kai said. "How the fuck will a starship that's thousands—hell, maybe millions—of years old gonna still fly?"

"The Barracuda hasn't been sealed in a solid case of pure iron," Marco said. "This has been. It's like finding a mammoth buried under ice. Still perfectly preserved."

Kai snorted and pointed at the two piles of dust and bones. "Tell it to those two buggers."

Outside, the carnivorous caterpillars kept ramming into the Loggerhead. The iron turtle rocked. The muffled screams reverberated through the hull. But even those mighty monsters could not break in. These turtle ships had been built to last.

Marco remembered what Kurma had told him. That the Esporians had destroyed all but this single turtle ship.

My God, he thought. If the Esporians defeated a fleet of these turtle ships, they must be fucking beasts. Thank goodness we have the laceleaf.

The herbs were still in his backpack, filling the cabin with their scent. But suddenly Marco thought that all the laceleaf in the world wouldn't make meeting an Esporian safe.

He would deal with Don Basidio later. Right now he had a starship to fly.

Thankfully, these controls seemed much more familiar than Tarjan machines. Upidians had seven arms, and their controls reflected that. But the principles were similar to Earth ships. There were levers, dials, buttons, and a yoke. Good old-fashioned basic engineering. No glass vials filled with colorful liquids here.

Marco shoved down a lever.

Nothing happened.

He flipped a few switches.

Nothing.

Kai cleared his throat. "Need some help there, bro?"

"Sure, got a manual for ancient caterpillar starships?" He tried a few more buttons. Nothing happened. Marco pursed his lips.

Kai groaned and shoved Marco aside. "Let me."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Oh, you know all about caterpillar tech, do you?"

"I've flown my share of alien starships, bro.

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