Page 12 of Across The Stars
“It’s just weird. Something has to be pretty close to not even let us through.”
The shuttle circled around the Nexus for a few minutes before distancing itself further from the blockade. I worried we were going to just turn around and head back to Earth beforethe shuttle stopped and slowly began to pivot toward the Nexus again.
“Shuttle 4,” a man’s voice said over the coms, only this announcement wasn’t being relayed to the passengers. I could barely hear it and looked down the narrow passage toward the bridge to listen in. “Unknown spacecrafts have been detected. We have a valerian ship ready to escort you in. Do you comply?”
“Shuttle 4 complies,” someone said.
I glanced out the windows to see the blockade slowly returning to a friendlier blue. I let out a deep breath of relief just as the shuttle began a large loop back to the other side of the Nexus.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked.
“Uhh,” Locket said, pointing toward the window behind his head.
He was craning his neck to look out and I followed his stare to see a set of bright, white lights approaching fast from the black emptiness. I shielded my eyes with one hand and could make out a large, silver craft with a sleek, flat underbelly and a curved top. It reminded me of a horseshoe crab made of metal, but much more intimidating and sleek. My pulse picked up as it flew over the shuttle. It was at least four times the size and hovered, its engines vibrating the entire body of the transport enough to shake my bones.
“Holy shit,” Locket muttered, looking nervous for the first time since we’d met him. “There are aliens in that ship.”
I wasn’t blinking. I wasn’t even breathing. The shuttle moved toward the blockade in time with the hovering ship’s movements and I watched the drones allow us all entry.
“I’m gonna be sick again,” Sam said. “And not because of turbulence.”
I couldn’t stop looking out the windows, glimpsing every part of the alien spacecraft that I could. Its underbelly was beamingwith blue veins of light like a giant motherboard. As the ship slowed, the energy veins began to pulse like blood being pumped through muscles.
“Syfer energy,” Locket said, a new tone of childish excitement in his voice. “It’s how they power all of their tech. It’s the stuff that powers the Nexus.”
“That’s incredible,” I whispered. “Can they really be trading that stuff for extra military? Seems a lot more valuable than some human muscle.”
“I guess their population is vastly smaller and spread out. They don’t reproduce as fast as we do.”
“Oh. Right, of course I knew that.”
Locket shrugged. “Humans reproduce like rabbits. So our military is bigger. Makes sense. And valerians have enemies. The galaxy is a big place, you know. We need syfer. They need numbers.”
How humans could be any help in a galactic conflict was beyond me, but I also couldn’t say I understood anything about the relationship with valerians. I assumed it was much more complicated than that, but I didn’t ask. I’d learn eventually.
But at the moment, I was just enjoying the ride. Nervous or not, when I fully realized where I was, all the anxiety faded away. I was in space.
Stripper (exotic dancer, as Sam put it). Sort-of kickboxer. College dropout. It didn’t matter. I was enthralled by space already and I could barely contain the joy and curiosity. If adventure was a job title, I’d have applied twenty years ago.
6: Vahko
I stepped forward, leaning on the communication panel with my fists. A blue screen sat in front of me on a crescent metal counter.
“Nexus, this is Vahko Uarikai, captain of the Irlos. Valerian clearance code Y-209,” I said into the coms.
There was a brief bout of silence on the other end. Human technology was a little slow…
“We read you, captain,” a man finally answered.
“We have reason to believe your scanners are being sabotaged and suggest an immediate activation of your security blockade.”
“Please state your reasoning.”
“We think a non-valerian spacecraft is approaching the Nexus and may potentially be targeting recruit vessels. Your scanners may not be calibrated to pick them up.”
Salukh was sitting at the control panel piloting the ship and slapped me on the arm before pointing my attention toward one of the raised holograms in front of him. I saw two small energy readings appearing as two red dots on the scanners. I narrowed my eyes.
“Blockades have been activated,” the man said.
