Galaxy's Game

by Gareth D Jones

Part V: Rolling the Dice

Chapter 1: The Legend of Nia

It is a long way from Zrsectipar to the Palkot system. Six and a half tedious days passed in the cramped quarters of Excalibur IV. Drew and I occupied the bunk beds in one of the tiny sleeping compartments while Dana inhabited the other. Nirf kept himself busy tinkering with Anok and cleaning the droid up. We each spent some time in the cockpit, more for a chance to get away from the others than through any need to monitor the ship's systems. Dana did not complain about our trusty little ship until she found out that it was actually Drew's ship. After that she made endless comments about the stingy budge of Galactic Security Services, and told us how glad she was to be working for Briden Associates instead.

In between the arguing and annoyance, we discussed our theories about the glossies, our plans to track down Kralo Zur, and the complex circumstances that had brought us together. We also occupied our time playing dice. As I threw the pair of dice onto the table in the midst of one particularly dramatic game, it suddenly struck me how well it symbolised my life. I had no idea what was going to happen next, any more than I knew which face the dice would land on. As we hurtled onward towards Palkot, I had no idea how much more variable my future was to become.

*

The Palkot system is at the edge of human-inhabited space, quite a way from the main cluster of colonies. As we emerged back into real space we could see Palkot as a bright blue star, and glinting nearby was the tiny crescent of Palkot 5, one of the system's two inhabited planets. We had all gathered in the cockpit for the occasion. Emerging from H space is not very exciting, but compared to sitting in the crew lounge for endless hours, anything is interesting.

"Laying in a course for Palkot 5," Drew said, his fingers tapping at the controls. We homed in on the yellowy-brown planet and on down to Palkot 5 Mega Port, the biggest space port in human space.

Over a hundred ships could have fitted in the private docking area, though fewer than a dozen were present. The landing field was vast, capable of handling a huge number of freighters and cruisers, but only a couple were present. The port building was monumentally massive, but looked deserted from the air. The planners had developed the Mega Port as the gateway to the Galaxy, but unfortunately nobody else had gone much further into the Galaxy, so not many people visited the Palkot system.

A gleaming monorail system connected all parts of the grounds, and by the time we had emerged from our ship there was a carriage awaiting us. I sat on a nicely padded bench seat and watched out the window as the others settled in. We slid smoothly through the port, past a huge cargo ship, alongside the GalPol security zone, and into the terminal building.

Once through the formalities we found a large lounge and settled down for a refreshing drink. Excalibur IV's food processor is not bad, but fresh new food and drink is always welcome when you land.

While we drank, Nirf floated over to a nearby information console. He returned a few moments later, pulsating with satisfaction.

"I have found out some information about the Nia," he said. "It is a native creature that inhabits most areas of Palkot 5. It is mostly silent, but there is a legend that they sing in the mountains, thus our proverb."

"So what kind of creatures are they?" I asked.

"There is no description," Nirf said. "Which could mean that nobody has seen one, or they are so common that everybody on the planet already knows what they look like."

"Odd," said Drew.

"I'll ask somebody," Dana said, and marched off across the vast and almost empty concourse. There was a manned information desk in the far distance. We followed behind and I struggled to keep up with her purposeful stride. Posters behind the desk were advertising the upcoming annual trans-galactic race that started at nearby Angebb.

A white-haired man, who other than that, did not look particularly old, was behind the desk, preoccupied with a small display screen. He paid no attention to Dana until she had coughed loudly and rapped on the desk, by which time we had all caught up with her. Except Anok, who took another half minute.

"Yes?" the man said, seeming surprised by our presence.

"I'm trying to find out what a Nia is," Dana said without much politeness.

"Hmm." The man looked thoughtful for a moment, then blinked. "Oh, yes, what?"

"Nia," I said over Dana's shoulder, "What is it?"

"Hmm," the man said again, looking even more thoughtful. I wondered what had qualified him to work behind an information desk. "Nia," he said at last.

"Yes?" Dana said.

"Oh, what? Nia, yes, an animal."

"We know!" Dana said, gripping the edge of the desk, maybe to stop herself hitting the unfortunate man.

"Shh!" The man glared at her. "Please keep your voice down."

We all glared at him. Nirf waved a tentacle in a glaring kind of way.

"A nia," said the man, "is a medium-sized sort of animal, of differing colours, usually black or grey, but sometimes white."

"Great," said Dana, "but what are they like?"

"I'm coming to that," he said, beginning to sound irritated. "It's an animal that lives all over Palkot 5, but it's said that in the mountains they sing." He looked particularly pleased with that last fact.

"We already knew all that," I said. "What else can you tell us?"

The man looked offended. "Well, I'm very sorry if our information service doesn't meet your expectations," he said, and turned away.

"Hang on just a minute!" Dana was not very happy.

He turned back and looked at her disapprovingly. "Yes?"

"Where can we find out more?" I said quickly, worried Dana was going to start an interplanetary incident.

"Go to the Fineas Mountains," the man said, "That's the only place you might find out more about the legend of the Nia."

Chapter 2: Mountain Base

"I wonder why he was so unhelpful," I said, as we drove through the city in a hovacab.

"No idea," said Drew. "I hope we're not just wasting our time, though."

We passed out of the city onto a wide road with little traffic and were pushed back into or seats as the cab's boosters accelerated us towards the distant mountains. The scenery flashed past—a mixture of small tended fields and yellowy-green trees—as the mountains gradually emerged from the horizon. They grew from a low dark smudge and crept higher and higher until they dominated the view ahead.

It was almost an hour before the cab slowed and we cruised into a small town called Mountville that nestled in the foothills.

"Original name," Drew commented.

The cab came to a stop in the town square, a wide expanse of concrete and flower beds surrounded by low stone buildings.

"Far as I go," the cab driver said. "You'll have to get a mountain cab from here."

I paid him, with a small tip, and we all piled out to stand blinking in the afternoon sun. A pair of local cabs sat farther along the road, painted in rustic brown. These looked more rugged, the kind of vehicle with all-terrain independently adjusting anti-grav plates rather than boosters designed purely for speed.

Drew consulted an interactive map on a streetside billboard, and tapped at a spot farther into the mountains.

"This is where we need to go," he said, "The Centre for Nia Studies."

Sounded plausible to me. We piled into the first cab at the stand and gave him our destination. We pulled away smoothly, slipped through the town and away up the steep road leading into the mountains. It was a slower drive, but the anti-gravs kept us level as we made our way up and around the meandering route.

It took another hour to reach the research base somewhere up in the mountains, a single stone building that spread across a ridge with various wings and extensions giving it a haphazard appearance. It all looked a bit overgrown and uncared for. It was still bright, but cooler up here.

Drew led the way through the main entrance, on the lookout for danger as ever. Dana snorted at his caution and followed along behind.

There was an empty reception desk inside, scratched and stained. Worn carpet covered the floors and the place smelled of stale coffee and fried food.

Drew pressed a buzzer on the desk. It blared loudly. And again. And continued for several awkward minutes until a greasy-looking woman in a faded uniform emerged from a room down the corridor.

"What?" She pressed a switch somewhere behind the counter and the noise ceased. "Meant to get that fixed." She grinned weirdly.

"Hi," I said, hoping this time to get off to a better start, "we're interested in local legends, and wanted to find out more about the Nia, and the legend that it sings in the mountains."

Dana gave me a look of disgust. I thought it was a perfectly respectable story.

"Ah, well, that saying is very old." The woman smoothed her greasy fringe back with grubby fingers. I was glad she had not offered us a drink. "There's no actual proof it's true."

"So we heard," I said. "But what is the significance of the proverb about them singing?"

"Don't know that there is," she said. "There was one researcher based here who was determined to prove they sang. Said he'd heard them."

"He had?"

"Well, so he said. Nobody believed him. Went a bit crazy in the end. Doctor Stopoulous was his name."

"Where is he now?" Nirf asked.

"Well, would you believe it?" the woman said, staring at Nirf. "A flying, talking jelly fish."

"I am a Tsimkan," Nirf said sharply.

The woman shrugged. "He's dead, I'm afraid. Left the institute twenty years ago, set up his own base higher up in the mountains. It's been abandoned for years now." She looked around as if to see who else was listening. "Recently there've been rumours of yeti," she said.

"Yeti? As in large, white, furry, possibly intelligent humanoids?" I asked.

"Yep, but more like blacky-green than white."

I turned to the others.

"Could be the only place to find answers," I said.

"Sounds like Kropasks," Nirf said.

"Sounds like the kind of remote place Zur might have a base," Dana said.

"Sounds like the perfect place for a trap," Drew said. "Let's go."

"How do we get there?" I asked the woman behind the desk.

"The only way is up the trails," she said. "You'll need an all-terrain vehicle, though."

"We have one," I said, and went back out to the taxi.

"That's off-road," the driver said. "Not covered by insurance. Sorry, mate."

After some negotiation, the woman from the institute, Cindy, agreed to drive us in her ranger truck. The cab driver agreed to wait for us.

It got much colder as we headed up the rough tracks further into the mountains. We were at the edge of the snowline, where anti-gravs could destabilise the snow and cause avalanches. Cindy's six-wheel-drive truck easily handled the potholes and stones as we wound our way through mud and gravel, between old trees and rocky outcroppings. Half an hour later the track came to an end in front of a dense thicket of short, branchy trees.

"I only went there once before," Cindy said. "It's a half kilometre on foot."

We climbed out of her warm but musty vehicle into the cold, still air of the mountain.

"I don't mind waiting," Cindy called as I led the way into the shadowy woods. Drew and Dana trudged behind, complaining about their unsuitable footwear. Anok said nothing but creaked more than usual. Nirf, who does not need shoes or feel the cold, hovered overhead as usual.

Through the trees, and across an overgrown clearing, we hiked towards a large square building of rough stone with a pitched slate roof. Snow decorated the roof and lay blown in great drifts up one side. It looked like some of the snow had been trampled down in front of the building, whether by people or animals, I did not know.

The door opened silently as Drew pushed it, and we followed him into a sizeable hall. Nirf flew up into the shadowed rafters. Grimy windows let in dim light from the front of the building. We crept slowly across the hall to the door at the far side.

With a bang the door behind us flew open, slamming against the wall. I spun round to see three Kropasks, all aiming high-power stunners at us. Another bang, and the inner door was slammed open. Three more Kropasks leaped through.

"Well, well." It was Horkoz. I was sure I recognised him this time. "Look who's here."

This was definitely Kralo Zur's mountain base.

Chapter 3: Race to Launch

"Drop your weapons," Horkoz growled.

Drew was the only one carrying a weapon. He dropped it with a loud clattering echo.

"And I'm not falling for that again," Horkoz said, and fired up into the rafters. Nirf fell to the floor, stunned.

I groaned. It looked pretty tricky.

Anok, who had followed along loyally for the entire trek, started leaking black smoke. Useless pile of junk. Although apparently not entirely useless. It suddenly squirted a gout of black smoke at the Kropasks behind us, and as they doubled up coughing and choking, Anok sprayed thick black smoke in front of us, too.

I dived for the floor as Kropasks started shooting wildly. Drew retrieved his pneumatic light gun from the floor and fired a wide burst at Horkoz' position. The shooting from that direction stopped. I crawled low under the choking black smoke and met up with Drew and Dana by the three downed Kropasks.

I opened the door beyond and we rushed through, scaring a Bluman who was loitering behind a desk. He jumped onto the desk and launched into a flying tackle, taking down Drew and knocking his gun across the floor. I leaped out the way of the pair, but the Bluman was fast and was back on his feet in a second. He crouched, ready to pounce again. Dana launched a long and elegant kick, knocking the man flying back into his desk. I rushed over to finish him off, but he was already finished.

"We're definitely on the right track," I said. There was no sign of any more of Kralo Zur's henchmen, but from behind the building a loud rumble started up.

"Sounds like a shuttle," Dana said, and made a dash for the rear door.

Outside, fifty metres away, a small shuttle was rumbling to life. It lifted gently into the air, then blasted away into the sky. The surrounding trees shook and several branches fell to the ground. We were buffeted by the down-draft and fell back against the wall.

"Was that Zur himself, do you think?" Drew said.

I shrugged and we walked back into the building, irritated. I picked up Nirf, who was floppy and weird. Drew dragged Anok back to its feet. We went out the front of the building.

"So, do we care about the Nia anymore?" Dana said.

"Not really," Drew said. "It's going to take us a while to get back to the port, though."

There was a screeching roar of deceleration from above.

"I don't think we have that much time!" I ran towards Cindy's rover. The others were right behind.

"Is that GalPol?" Cindy asked in a friendly voice as we piled in.

An impressively armoured shuttle was dropping towards the spot that Zur had vacated moments earlier.

"Yes," I replied. "Drive!"

Cindy pulled away gently.

"Faster!" Dana yelled.

The shuttle hovered over the cabin and a GalPol land-tank dropped from its belly, out of view behind the building.

"Why don't they just chase Zur?" Drew complained. He elbowed Cindy aside and took over the wheel. We roared away down the track in a spray of dirt.

The shuttle shot back into the sky.

"Looks like they are!" I yelled over the straining of the engine.

"Be careful of my truck!" Cindy shouted.

The comm burst to life. "This is Lieutenant Jacasta Keef of the Galactic Police. Halt your vehicle now."

"That is GalPol," Cindy said.

We bumped over large potholes and I was thrown across the back seat against the door.

"We're not stopping," Drew said, accelerating even more.

"Good," said Cindy, "I don't like these off-world authority types."

I smiled. Hopefully GalPol would be busy with Horkoz for a while, but they would be on our tail again soon. I turned to Cindy.

"We're going to need some help to get off planet quickly," I said.

"You leave it to me," she said, picking up the comm handset. "I'll teach them to come roaring down over a nature reserve exerting their authority!"

It had taken half an hour to get up from the institute, but Drew drove us back down in less than twenty minutes. Following Cindy's call, our cab was waiting with the door open and the engine running. We screeched to a stop and jumped from one vehicle to the other. Nirf was starting to wake up as I flung him onto the back seat and we roared away from the institute down the steep roads to the town.

The driver did not hold back, making the return journey in half the time. He had radioed ahead for a city cab to be waiting and we changed vehicles again. This driver did not bother waiting to clear the town square, never mind the outskirts, before hitting the boosters. We rocketed down the road, heading for the Mega Port. I had no idea if Lieutenant Keef was on our tail or not, but we were not taking any chances.

As we approached the port, our driver turned to us.

"I just heard over the comm," he said, "I've been told to go straight in to the landing field."

That seemed pretty unusual to me. It looked like everyone was willing to lend us a hand to escape from GalPol. I had no idea what GalPol had done to upset the people of Palkot, but I was grateful for every edge we could get.

We screeched into the port grounds and raced across the landing field, much quicker than catching the monorail.

"I've just been told you're clear for take-off," the driver said as we pulled up alongside Excalibur IV. "Good luck!" he called as we exited his cab and ran across to our ship.

I threw myself into the co-pilot's seat and we were aloft a moment later.

Chapter 4: Showdown

We broke orbit moments later and ignored a hail from the GalPol frigate Alert, Major Bragg's ship. It seemed the major was too busy to pay us much heed as it was in pursuit of Zur's ship Likely Trader. As we watched, the Trader made a break from Palkot's vicinity, heading for a transition to H space. We had come up from the surface on a much better intercept course than Alert, which was trailing a quarter orbit behind.

"What can your ship do?" Dana asked.

"Follow him?" I suggested. We seemed to have been doing that for a long time.

"Much better at this range." Drew grinned as he flicked open a secure panel to reveal a weapons targeting system. "UV megameltomatic," he said. "Take over the flight controls."

There was not much for me to do; the flight was already locked in. I just had to keep an eye on the systems while Drew brought the massive weapon to bear.

A bright light lanced out from the Likely Trader, wide of Excalibur IV but making me cringe.

"Are you going to do something?" Dana asked.

The comm came alive again.

"This is Major Wilyor Bragg. Please be advised that should Kralo Zur escape I will be obliged to bring Excalibur IV into custody."

"Let's not give him the chance," Drew said, and fired.

Zur's ship glowed briefly with the impact, but continued its flight unchanged.

"A marginal hit," Nirf said.

Drew fired twice more, narrowly missing. Zur's return fire was no more accurate. Maybe you think you could have done better, but firing at a small ship in the infinity of space while travelling at thousands of kilometres per second is extremely difficult. That is why nobody has interplanetary wars—it's too difficult to bother.

"He'll be ready for H space any second," I said.

"Yep." Drew was concentrating hard. He fired again. Zur's ship glowed. He fired and hit a second time.

"He can transfer to H space now," Nirf announced.

Zur's ship did not disappear. It's running lights flickered and went out.

"Mayday, mayday, Likely Trader …" an automated message began.

Alert drew closer.

"Well done, Excalibur IV." Major Bragg sounded relieved. "I'm glad to say all charges against you can now be dropped—"

An escape pod ejected from the Trader.

"Hold please …" a tractor beam from the approaching Alert caught the escape pod and pulled it in.

"As I was saying, I am pleased to tell you all charges against you will be dropped. If you'd care to rendezvous back at the Mega Port, we can clear the paperwork."

I turned the ship around with a satisfied smile.

Down on the surface, we cautiously met up with Major Bragg. With him was Jereane, who had been in custody since Sosh II. I was glad to see her again. We went into the port and enjoyed a fabulous meal, booked large rooms in the hotel so we could spread out, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

We toasted Zur's capture as we ate dinner that evening.

"It still doesn't explain the glossies," I pointed out.

We all fell silent for a moment, wondering what, if anything we should do about it. For Dana and Drew, it was part of their job. For me and Nirf, it was just something we had fallen into by accident. For Jereane, it was something that had affected her home planet, and something she wanted to fix.

We talked until late in the evening, weighing our options, comparing leads, trying to determine where the trail led and what it suggested. We had no concrete answers by the time I went to bed.

Major Bragg approached me the next morning as I ate breakfast at the hotel. I was still uncomfortable at the presence of a GalPol officer, even though I was now free. His skin matched the orange-juice on the table.

"I have a proposal for you," he said, sitting down without an invitation. I was alone, the others still in bed, I presumed.

I took a mouthful of tea, put my cup down carefully.

"What kind of proposal?"

"Manariakos," he said. A joint Human / Juddor colony that marks the far galactic northwest of the currently inhabited sector.

"That's a long way from here," I observed.

"Indeed. Way beyond my current operational area. I am only aware of this current situation because I am Juddor, so my superiors thought I might be suitable to be involved."

"But you're not?"

"No. I'm too well known on Juddor. My uncle, Lord Jarga Seyon, is a prominent figure, and my whole family is, shall we say, infamous."

"So, are you asking me to go to Manariakos?"

"Yes, that is the crux of the matter. The Galactic Police have not been ratified on Manariakos, so we can take no official action there."

"And what, exactly, would you want us to do?"

"Primarily, deliver a message, to my uncle."

I thought about this for a moment.

"We all have important things to do," I said at last.

"The glossies?"

I was surprised. GalPol knew about the glossies too? Of course they did. If GSS and Briden Associates were looking into them, other agencies must be aware of them too.

"You'll still be working on that," the major said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"My uncle controls one of the largest Juddor trading clans," Bragg explained. You've probably come across Juddor traders; they are everywhere. "I intend to tap into his information sources to gather information on the glossies. We know they were working with Zur, but they are a lot more widespread than that."

"Okay," I said, "but if you can't approach your uncle directly because of your GalPol connections, how am I supposed to get near him if he's an important Lord and I just turn up randomly on Manariakos?"

"I have the perfect cover story lined up," the major said. "My Uncle will be presenting the prize for the annual Trans-Galactic Race. It starts in two days from Beggna."

"I'm not likely to win," I said, thinking of faithful old Excalibur IV.

"Doesn't matter," the major said, "you'll still be at the celebrations."

I finished my cup of tea.

"I'll speak to the others."

By lunchtime we were on our way to Beggna.

Chapter 5: Space Race

"Permission to land granted, Excalibur IV," the cheery voice said over the comm.

We angled down into Beggna's atmosphere after the fifteen hour flight from Palkot 5. The home of the trans-galactic race boasted a huge spaceport, but still only half the size of Palkot 5's Mega Port.

Drew opened the hatch after we landed and I breathed in the crisp autumn scents of another new world. The place looked busy, with crews and ground personnel bustling around, and groups of reporters touring the landing field and interviewing whomever they could waylay. The majority of people in sight were Blucti, wavering about on their six tentacular legs in a wash of blue. By the time we were out of our ship a servopod had arrived from the terminal and whisked us swiftly cross the field. Sadly for us, the Blucti body shape is sufficiently different to human that the chairs were rather uncomfortable.

The terminal building was even busier. A multitude of signs advertised the trans-galactic race, and numerous race sponsors had set up stalls in the building, attracting crowds of crew, passengers, sightseers and well-wishers. A large information desk had been set up for the prospective crews and I pushed my way through crowds of Blucti, who average twenty centimetres shorter than humans, so at least I could see where I was going clearly enough. There were small knots of other species, often in matching uniforms from their ships, as well as tourists, and who knows who else. There were three or four other human crews, and a flotilla of Tsimkans. Nirf quickly zipped off to speak to them while we struggled to the desk.

Sid, a friendly Blucti with a crackly translator, took our details, including our names and ship specifications, and assigned us a race number: 44. It seemed like a good number. We were assigned rooms at a nearby hotel designed for four-limbed species and Sid assured us that all other information would be sent on to us. I don't think Sid is a real Blucti name.

The Golden Apple hotel was less than two kilometres away and we decided to walk. You do not get much chance to exercise on long space voyages. It was a pleasant enough hotel, though my room's giant furniture suggested they had Paralli in mind rather than humans. Drew complained his bed had been designed for Gosp and his feet stuck out the end.

We gathered together over breakfast to plot our course for the race. We were not there to win; after all, we had a more important mission, but with all the excitement it was hard not to get caught up in the spirit of the race. Manariakos is at the opposite corner of the inhabited sector, a flight of around ten days. The flight through H space would be identical for all ships, give or take a few hundredths of a percent for entry and emergence efficiency. Take-off and landing were also crucial, as well as acceleration to and from the planets from the entry and exit points. Plus, ship reliability would be crucial. To make it more interesting though, the racers all had to make a pit stop at any other system on the way and collect an acknowledgement signal from that planet's orbital control. The trick was to get close enough to the planet to come under orbital control's remit without wasting too much time in system.

There were, we calculated, fourteen systems that we could stop at without extending our H space journey unnecessarily. There were generally over a hundred ships in the race each year, so we could expect seven or eight other racers at whichever system we chose, vying for attention first.

We discounted a couple of planets immediately: Earth, and Nylg, headquarters of the United Galactic Exploration Agency, would both be far too busy. Zrsectipar would be hopeless, and some other places we had been to recently might be a bit risky: Anto, Coray IV, Balan VIII, where we may or may not still be on the authorities' watch list. I fancied Stipraf, home of the legendary Stiprafian Guargitt, but it was a little bit out of the way compared to the others. Eventually we settled on Sawalla, a system that was only a short way into the voyage. If there was any problem, there would be plenty of chances for another go somewhere else.

That evening there was a big pre-race party where the crews of all one hundred and seven participating ships mingled with local celebrities, race officials and sponsors. It was pretty exciting. I caught a glimpse of Pin Mo Gar, the favourite to win, a Zinian who was flying the same customised yacht he had won in three years earlier and in which he had finished in the top ten five years in a row. It was a late night of chatting to other pilots, boasting of our flying experience, and eating free food. Fortunately the race started at noon the next day, so we had time to recover.

Two hours before launch we were aboard Excalibur IV, double-checking all systems. Everything was fine. We were on the main landing field, along with over half the ships. Others were docked in the cargo ship yard, and some at a nearby private field. The launch inspector paid us a visit to check through various regulations with us, and as he left, the countdown reached thirty-five minutes till first launch. After that, I just sat and fretted.

At noon local time, racer number one launched, accompanied by fireworks from across the field and lots of banner waving from the terminal. We found a news channel transmitting in Terran and listened to the excited commentator explaining to her listeners that the ships were taking off at two-minute intervals from the various locations to avoid dangerously crowded flying conditions. We had eighty-eight minutes more to wait.

"Excalibur IV, ten minutes to launch," flight control told us. Drew brought all flight systems to readiness.

I sat watching the countdown, and flight control gave us another warning at five minutes and at two. I brought the vertical thrusters to minimum, holding us ready on a pile of power.

"Hold on back there," I said through the intercom.

Drew primed the engines.

"Twenty seconds," the comm announced.

I checked the control panel once more. All lights were still green.

"Here we go," said Drew. The countdown reached zero and we leapt into the sky. Excalibur IV sliced through the atmosphere on a least-time course to orbit. The engines stayed nominal throughout.

Normally we would take time once in orbit to double check all systems and the course before moving out to the hyperspace insertion point and engaging the H drive. This time, we blasted straight onward.

"H drive ready," Drew said. It was the only check we did. We translated into H space and were on our way.

Sawalla was almost a four-day flight. As usual, the ship could be left to itself during hyper flight, but with the ship now even more crowded, we took it in turns sitting in the cockpit to get a bit of space and quiet, and slept in shifts so we could each have the bunks to ourselves.

The translation back out of H space in the Sawalla system was fabulously accurate—Drew did a really good job. By the time we had confirmed our arrival in the correct system, we were already brushing the edge of orbital control's sphere.

"This is Excalibur IV, taking part in the trans-galactic race," I said over the comm. "Please acknowledge, orbital control."

The reply came seconds later.

"Sawalla orbital control to Excalibur IV, approach acknowledged, and good luck!"

"Thank you, control."

By the time I was finished, Drew had already initiated the navigational instructions for Manariakos. and nudged our course back towards the hyper insertion point.

"Okay, we can go," I said.

A moment later, Drew engaged the H drive again, and we were back in hyper space.

There was nothing more to do but wait out the six day flight to the finish line.

Chapter 6: The Finish Line

For the whole journey we could get no news of the race, so we had no idea how well we were doing compared to the other teams. Our ship was operating well and we thought we had made good time, but there was no way to tell.

The second day out towards Manariakos, I left the cockpit and entered the lounge to get some food. Anok was stood in the corner as usual and Nirf floated near the ceiling. Dana was sitting at the small table reading something on her info pad. I nodded and typed my selection into the food dispenser. Nothing happened.

"Come on," I murmured, trying another couple of times.

"I just had a coffee," Dana said, "try that."

I selected coffee, then several other things, but nothing came out.

Nirf descended from ceiling level. "Let me check," he said. I stood back and let him have a go. You already know how good he is with technology. He opened the side panel and began fiddling about. The dispensing slot opened and water poured out.

"Oh dear," he said.

He shut the panel and floated back to appraise it. Water continued to drip on to the floor.

Anok stepped forward. "This is the same model I had to fix several times on the True As An Arrow," he said, and opened the opposite control panel. Inside he began flicking switches and adjusting settings. Bang! Flame shot out and fused Anok's finger to the control panel. Water sprayed from the dispensing slot all over Anok, who began sparking jerkily. A load of splodge fell from the slot onto the floor.

"Are you going to do something?" Dana asked, not moving from her seat.

"I think it's broken," I said, as Anok collapsed and the food dispenser went dark. Nirf floated in the middle of the room, surprisingly uncertain for a change.

"Great," said Dana. She stood and hit the emergency power shut off on the wall.

The room went dark.

I opened the door manually and light from the corridor illuminated the scene of water, broken robot and a blob of mush.

The red emergency lights flickered on, giving Nirf an oddly menacing colouration.

"What are you doing to my ship?" Drew called from the cockpit.

Dana and I pulled Anok free of the machine, Drew appeared from the corridor, and Jereane came out of the bunk room, looking mostly asleep.

"What a mess," she said.

"And no food for the next four days," Dana said.

We dragged Anok out of the way into the corner and cleaned up the spillage. Drew reset the power and went back to the cockpit. We had a long, hungry voyage to look forward to.

We did not starve; there were still emergency ration bars, but if you have ever eaten them, you'll know starvation is almost preferable.

Almost four days later I awoke from dreams of cake and sandwiches and went grouchily into the lounge. Drew was playing cards and he dealt me in.

"Half hour to Manariakos," he said as we finished our second hand of rummy. He pushed the cards across to me and headed out to the cockpit. I looked longingly at the food dispenser and followed him.

Dana was in the co-pilot's seat and I took the third. Drew checked through all of the systems yet again and I drummed my fingers nervously on the chair arm until Dana glared at me.

"Emerging from H space," Drew announced. There was the usual hum, and we were back in normal space. Manariakos was dead ahead, a small blue disc with the smaller brown disc of its moon Zialno off-centre.

"Maximum thrust," Drew said, and Dana punched the controls.

Zialno grew, disappeared off to the side. Drew contacted orbital control.

"Please land at sector 3B, Nogos Spaceport." There was no clue as to how we were doing in the race.

We plunged into the atmosphere, rocketed over a huge ocean, slowing as we neared the coast. I was itching to get at the controls, but Drew and Dana were perfectly competent.

"Coming down now," Drew said, his voice full of concentration. He hit the retro and vertical thrusters and brought us down fast. I clenched the chair arms, but we touched down on our landing pad with barely a bump.

"We're down," Dana confirmed.

"We're down!" I yelled over the comm.

"Let's move!" Drew was out of his seat and out of the cockpit. I bumped into Dana as we both followed him. Jereane was already opening the hatch, Nirf hovering behind her. We piled down the ramp and into a servopod that stood waiting. It whisked us across to the terminal and into a melee of cheering crowds, race officials, race crews and journalists.

We climbed out and straight-faced officials led us across to the official race desk.

"How did we do?" Drew demanded. We got no reply and had no way of knowing whether the other crews present had made better time than us or not.

A massive cheer went up from the crowd. Pin Mo Gar had arrived.

More crews arrived every minute or two, and gradually we were shuffled off to one of the lounges to wait.

Two hours after our arrival, we were called back to the main hall for the results. All but a handful of crews had arrived. Times had been checked and stopover acknowledgements verified. The crowd hushed as a smart Juddor woman in a spaceport uniform came to the stage.

"Ladies, Gentlemen and Others," she said, "Lord Jarga Seyon will now present the results."

An elderly Juddor wearing ornate red and yellow robes shuffled onto the stage.

"Thank you for your patience," he said. "As honorary chairman of the board of the Annual Trans-Galactic Race, it is my privilege …" he started coughing.

Get on with it! I thought.

"It is my privilege to announce …" he coughed again and collapsed. Two race officials rushed on and helped him to his feet. They all shuffled off together.

The Juddor woman came back on.

"Erm, Lord Jarga Seyon will return soon. I hope." She disappeared off stage.

Chapter 7: Sijambo

The crowd muttered impatiently and I fidgeted from one foot to the other. I wanted to get on with the mission to deliver our message to Major Bragg's uncle, but I also wanted to know how we had done in the race. It was another five minutes before the hostess returned to the platform.

"Lord Seyon has recovered," she said. "Please welcome him back to the platform."

I clapped along with everyone else as the elderly Juddor ambled back to the centre. He held his arms up for silence, which took a while.

"And now for the winners of the Trans-Galactic Race," he said. More cheering.

"In fifth place, the Oomala, captained by Sheekar Symilis."

The crowd cheered and applauded as a trio of Brogians climbed onto the platform. A spaceport official handed a bronze plaque to Lord Seyon and he posed for photographs as he handed it over to the crew. There was a decent cash prize, too. Fourth place was taken by a Juddor crew who got a particularly loud cheer from the local crowd, and third place went to a Gosp ship. I was getting impatient, waiting for a chance to talk to Lord Seyon.

"Second place is awarded to a first-time crew," the old Juddor announced. "Excalibur IV, captained by Drew Nelson."

It took me a moment to register he was talking about us. Jereane grabbed my hand and dragged me up to the stage along with Drew, Dana and Nirf. Drew accepted the plaque and the cash prize and we posed for photos and shook hands. I wished I had put on a clean top.

The race was won overall by Pin Mo Gar, who gave a long speech about intergalactic cooperation, blah blah blah. I was still rather stunned, and as the crowds began to disperse almost missed the chance to talk to Lord Seyon.

I managed to stop him as we were eating snacks and drinking champagne. His aids tried to brush us aside, but as we had been on one of the winning crews he was happy to stop and talk to us. I pressed Major Bragg's comm chip into his hand.

"From your nephew," I said when he looked surprised.

He nodded understanding, and I could see that behind his frail exterior he still had bright and alert eyes. He probably emphasized his illness to gain a tactical advantage over his trading competitors. I assumed he would do what he could to help out in the quiet war against the glossies.

Later, we went back to our ship to sort out our belongings. Anok was standing in the corridor.

"I recently recovered from the accident and pro … ceed … ed …" Anok staggered against the wall.

I went past him into the cockpit and called for a mechanic to fix Anok and the food dispenser.

"What do you plan to do with the prize money?" Jereane asked. Two hundred and fifty thousand credits is a lot, even between five of us.

"Well, I would like a nicer ship," Drew said.

" Excalibur IV did well in the race," Nirf said, "why would you change it?"

"You don't need as much space as we do," I said, "or as much comfort!"

"My money will be useful to support the opposition in Balan," Jereane said.

Drew fixed the prize plaque on the wall of the lounge.

"This makes the ship more valuable," he said.

After much discussion, Drew, Nirf and I decided to invest in a new ship for our ongoing investigations into the glossies. Dana decided she would also stick with us for a while to pool our resources. We agreed to drop Jereane off at Balan VIII.

"A new ship, then," Drew said.

"And how about a new droid?" I suggested.

*

The following day we visited a private ship sales yard where a charming Juddor lady in purple and gold showed us several cruiser-yachts that were available. The first was a six berth Scimitar, painted in gold and black.

"We're after something a bit bigger," I said.

"Ah ha," she said. "In that case, the Aurora." She waved us along to a huge yacht with four decks, sixteen births and a two man shuttle.

"A bit too big," Drew said.

The next one was just right.

"The Sijambo," she said, " A Y10-C class cruiser yacht." It was painted in blue and white with gold lettering.

"Looks about right," Dana said as we followed the saleswoman up the steps to the entry half way up the hull.

"This is the crew deck," she said. "To the left is the lounge …" She showed us around the rest of the ship, which had six cabins, a galley, bridge, medical unit, and a cargo hold with a four man hovomat.

Drew and Dana looked pleased with it.

"What do you think?" I asked Jereane.

"Wonderful," she said, "though I'm not planning to be on board for long."

Nirf was satisfied too, so we decided to buy it and the saleswoman led us back to her office to start the paperwork.

So we bought Sijambo, traded in Excalibur IV for a good price, and split the rest of the money. The next day we packed up our few belongings and transferred from the old ship to the new one. Anok had miraculously sparked back to life and trailed behind us, finding a corner of the cruiser yacht to stand in. We locked the ship and went back to our hotel to enjoy a couple of days of relaxation.

Chapter 8: Detour

Three days later we were back on Sijambo, prepping for take-off. The break had been nice, but we still had a mission, and Jereane was keen to get back home. The bridge was twice the size as the one on Excalibur IV, and I took the captain's seat at the back, which had a small monitoring console of its own. Drew took the pilot's seat at the front with Dana and Jereane either side of him. Nirf settled into the chair in the small medical unit bay behind the bridge. We had left Anok down in the lounge.

"All systems check," Dana reported.

"I think we're ready to go," Drew said.

I flicked through the views I could get on my small viewscreen: entrance ramp, cargo bay, external views.

"Ready, Nirf?" I asked over the comm.

"Yes, sir!" he said cheerfully.

"This is Sijambo to launch control," I said, "permission to launch requested."

"Hold please, Sijambo," the controller replied, "we have a cargo for you."

"Cargo?" I asked, but they had no further details.

On the outside screen I could see a hover carrier approach. It stopped outside the cargo bay hatch.

"Maybe it's something from Lord Seyon," I said as I walked down the corridor, with Dana and Nirf behind.

I opened the cargo hatch to see two port workers in white coveralls getting out of the carrier's cab. White is unusually plain for a Juddor.

"What is it?" I called.

"Dunno," one shouted back. "Looks a bit strange though. I'll hoist it up for you."

"What do you mean, strange?" I asked. The man hooked the crate to the carrier's hoist.

"It's the markings," he said.

I turned to ask Nirf what he thought.

"Look out!" Dana yelled and pushed me aside. The crate swung in through the hatch and we both fell to the floor. I rolled over as the two porters leapt up into the cargo bay. Both brandished miniblasters, one aimed at Nirf, the other at the two of us on the floor.

The crate landed on the deck and the lid sprang off. Three Zolk leaped out, each armed with high-power stunners. They looked far more dangerous than the Zolk street thieves I had met on Sosh II. Their dark red, diamond-shaped heads constantly moved back and forth looking at us all in turn. One of them hit the hatch controls to seal them up.

"Let's move," one of the porters said. He waved us over to the null-gee lift and we whooshed up two levels to the bridge.

"What was it?" Drew asked from his seat. Evidently, nobody had been watching the internal camera feeds. He turned to look at us and froze. Jereane half stood, noted the weapons and sat down quickly.

"Get out of the seats," the lead porter said. Drew and Jereane stood slowly. One of the Zolk went into the medical bay, emerged a moment later and nodded. The hijackers herded us into the small room while their leader sat at the captain's console.

Two of the Zolk stood in the doorway, covering us with their stunners.

"Take her up," Sijambo's new captain said.

The other porter, now in the pilot's seat, started the launch sequence.

"Sijambo, you have not been cleared for take-off," the comm blared. "Please disengage your drive systems."

The hijacker hit the comm button, much harder than needed to turn it off.

"Go," he barked.

The new pilot hit the boosters and we rocketed skyward. For a few seconds the internal dampers were overloaded, and we were thrown against the wall in a pile of bruised ribs and banged elbows. We gained orbital altitude in record time.

"Prepare for H drive as soon as possible," the hijacker said. His pilot and the third Zolk expertly manipulated the controls.

"What is it you want?" I called over the two short guards.

"Shut up!" was the only reply.

The null-gee lift hummed. I could just see the far side of the bridge through the doorway. Anok had appeared from whatever corner of the ship we had left him in.

"What's this?" the captain almost laughed at our dented and scratched old droid.

I was not laughing. I hoped Anok had another trick up its mechanical sleeve.

"Ready for H drive," the pilot said.

"Do it." The captain stood as the ship wafted into H space on its way to an unknown destination. He stepped towards Anok, raising his miniblaster.

A stun beam shot out from Anok's chest, and the hijacker's captain fell to the deck with a thud. The pilot half-sprang from his chair. Anok shot him down in turn and he slumped over the controls.

The rest of us rushed at our distracted Zolk guards and knocked them to the ground amid a flurry of stunner shots.

Alarm lights flashed on the console where the pilot had fallen on the controls.

I rolled across the bridge and turned to see Nirf flit over my head towards the Zolk in the co-pilot's seat.

Dana lay unconscious on the floor, hit by the wild shots of one of the guards.

Jereane and Drew wrestled the stunners from the two Zolk guards.

The Zolk co-pilot caught Nirf with a lucky shot from his stunner and Nirf fell on top of the pilot. The Zolk leapt from his seat, grabbed the miniblaster from the pilot and cartwheeled across the bridge.

Anok followed him across the bridge with a barrage of shots and hit Drew who collapsed onto our former guards. Jereane knocked the other out with a shot from her new stunner.

I scrambled across the floor to grab the nearest weapon.

The Zolk fired at Anok, catching the droid square in the chest. Anok fell to the deck in a shower of sparks and acrid smoke.

The Zolk was lightning quick. I grabbed a stunner from the middle of the floor, fired, missed. He shot back with his miniblaster and grazed my shoulder painfully. I dropped my stunner and fell to my knees in pain. In that moment, while he paused to fire, Jereane caught him with a blast from her stunner.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

I pulled myself up with the arm of the pilot's chair.

"No." I heaved the pilot out of the way with my good arm and looked at the console. He seemed to have fallen on the H drive set up system, and now all kinds of warning messages were flashing up on the screen. I could not see what our destination was supposed to be.

"Can you sort it out?" Jereane asked. Then she collapsed. I ducked behind the chair and winced with the pain. It was making me feel nauseous and dizzy. I peered round the chair.

One of the Zolk had crawled out from underneath Drew and was pointing its stunner in my direction. I had dropped my stunner the other side of the chair, and now so had Jereane. I was going to have to dive for it.

I dived.

The Zolk, evidently still dazed, fired wide. I landed with excruciating pain, grabbed the stunner, fired back. My vision went red.

I blinked back the pain and propped myself up. I was still conscious and the Zolk was not, so I had managed a rather fabulous shot.

I dragged myself back to my feet, gritting my teeth against the agony in my shoulder. I slumped into the co-pilot's seat. I could not concentrate on the controls, could not work out what to do. My vision was going blurred and dark.

I hit the emergency override on the H drive controls and slumped back into my seat.

It seemed a long way across the bridge to the medical bay. I did not make it.

End Part 5.

Bio: Gareth D Jones is unofficially the second most widely translated science fiction short story author in the world, having been published in 35 languages. He's a father of five, two of whom have also been published in Aphelion, and lives in the UK where he writes science fiction, fuelled by copious amounts of tea.

E-mail: Gareth D Jones

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