Starbounders #2 by Adam Jay Epstein

Author:Adam Jay Epstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

The flight to Subquatica was taking longer than anticipated, so the sledge was forced to stop at a remote fueling hub in the Crossroads region of the galaxy. While Skold negotiated a fair deal for a dozen fission canisters with the hub attendant, Zachary and the others discovered a lang-link in the docking station. Zachary sat before a small video screen displaying routing numbers to every IPDL base in the outerverse. He located the icon for Indigo 8 and touched it, activating a link to their Earth base.

“Director Madsen, this is Zachary Night. I’m sure you’re aware by now that Ryic, Kaylee, Quee, and I escaped Captain Aggoman’s starjunk while it was docked at the Mammoths of Xero. I wish I could explain everything, but we can’t risk compromising our mission. Just know that we’re safe and doing everything we can to protect the outerverse. And please, don’t come looking for us—”

“Hey, Zachary,” Ryic interrupted, “we’re all fueled up and the galactic fold to Kibarat is opening.”

“Not now, Ryic!” Zachary shouted.

He quickly reached out his hand and terminated the lang-link. Once he was sure the message had been sent and delivered, he turned to Ryic.

“Perfect,” he said.

“I don’t know, you really think they’ll believe I was stupid enough to blurt out where we were going right in the middle of the message?” Ryic asked. Kaylee’s and Quee’s looks said it all. “Don’t answer that.”

“If they do come searching for us, they’ll be headed ten billion miles in the opposite direction,” Zachary said.

Zachary felt they were making real progress, but he still knew that there were traitors intent on stopping them. Even within Indigo 8. They couldn’t be too careful. Besides, he was getting used to going it alone, and they had made it this far just fine.

The four exited the booth and walked through the station. Even though it was a small port, it had a gravity anchor that simulated the pull of Earth perfectly. It’s nice to be walking for a change, Zachary thought. They passed by a spaste shop filled with nothing but thousands of tubes, each bearing a picture of the flavor stored inside. Next door was a news portal, where holographic screens displayed live news feeds from around the outerverse. The group’s attention was drawn to a particular story playing on over a dozen of the screens. Only one was in English.

“This is now the second star within the last forty-eight hours to be hit,” a newscaster reported. “But unlike the attack on Protos, the sun of Clu 5 was completely extinguished, leaving its inhabitants in utter darkness. Evacuations are in progress, but the magnitude of these disasters is catastrophic.”

“They’re not going to stop at just two,” Zachary said.

“We don’t know that,” Ryic replied feebly.

“The IPDL Security Council has put every available Starbounder on assignment,” the newscaster continued. “Several high-ranking Clipsians, formerly under Nibiru’s command, have been detained. But we want to stress that no one has taken responsibility yet for these attacks.”

“You don’t think we should tell Madsen what we know?” Ryic asked.

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