The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5 Page 10

  “I’ll be in the back,” Taylor said. “I think they’ve got some weaponry back there?”

  Kai shook his head.

  “Well, there’s gotta be something interesting to do.”

  “You could always go the back and find out.”

  “I guess I’ll go do that.”

  “I’m bored too. Can I come?” Q asked her.

  “Fine.”

  “Just make sure he doesn’t blow the ship up,” Carlos said.

  “Will do,” she smiled and walked to the rear end of the ship.

  One second Q could see Taylor walking, and then she was floating into the air like some sort of fairy. The passengers were floating about in the air too, occasionally ramming into walls and ceilings.

  “Is everyone okay?” asked Carlos who had suddenly appeared.

  “What’s wrong?” Q asked.

  Carlos leaned in close, and whispered into his ear.

  “The engine’s dead.”

  ***

  “So there we were, stuck in the midst of empty space, praying for our safety when the engine suddenly broke out.”

  “Do you think you could focus a bit more on working?” Carlos snapped at Kai.

  “Whoa. Whoa. Calm down, man. Jeez. Your face makes it seem like we’re in a bad situation.”

  “We’re trying to fix the broken engine of a ship that’s stranded in the middle of nowhere. We are in a bad situation.”

  “I know,” he stared. “I made a joke.”

  Carlos gave no reaction.

  “It’s supposed to be funny.”

  Still nothing.

  “Laughing isn’t illegal you know.”

  Nope.

  Fine, Kai thought. Maybe not the best time for my greatly humorous personality.

  “How long is this temporary gravity system you used going to hold up?” Carlos asked.

  “Well we get temporary gravity only when our ship is accelerating, and we float around when the ship’s just moving at a constant speed. But the engine’s dead, so no acceleration. We’ve got a few temporary thrusters we use for emergency direction changes.”

  “Wait emergency supplies? That’s what you used to accelerate and give us gravity?”

  “Well, I needed some sort of gravity if I’m trying to fix this thing. Hard to look at a defective ship when you’re floating around.”

  “Carlos,” Q walked in. “The passengers are getting restless.”

  “They’re probably worried we stopped,” Carlos said.

  “I’ll handle things!” Kai jumped up and half-ran, half-jogged away.

  “What about fixing whatever this thing is?”

  “Good idea. You guys work on it while I’m gone,” he said.

  As soon as he walked into the passengers’ cabin he noticed the atmosphere seemed dull and heavy. Everyone was curled up in their seats, not exchanging a single word.

  Boy are these people in a fix, Kai thought.

  “Morning folks, and thank you for flying Air-Kai today. We’ve just stopped to let the engine cool a bit. We’ll get going in a short while.”

  Silence.

  Oh god, he thought. He heard a few of them whisper something about the engine needing to cool down. And then everyone began complaining at once.

  “I can’t die here. I have children!” A lady wailed.

  “My wife…” another mumbled.

  “Listen up, people,” He put his hands in the air. “I have a goldfish back home and I haven’t fed him in two days. Let’s say you cooperate with me by not making a ruckus, and I’ll get us back home?”

  Everyone quieted down, except Taylor, who was pretty much laughing hysterically.

  At least someone found it funny, he thought.

  “Kai,” a voice said.

  He turned around and saw Carlos standing at the doorway. And if Kai had understood anything about facial expressions it was that emotionless faces usually meant something had become worse. Or it could also be because Carlos was mad at him for leaving repairs haphazardly.

  Either way he was in big trouble.

  My fake goldfish just might die, Kai thought as he headed back into the rear.

  ***

  Q honestly had no clue what was going on.

  All he knew was that the lower part of the rear wall had started to heat up until it was bright red, leaving a faint burn on a section of the metal wall.

  Kai had been working on the wall for close to fifteen minutes now, and in all that time Carlos hadn’t taken his eyes off the partly charred wall. If sheer focus could fix things then he would have probably had the thing working minutes ago.

  Q heard soft chatter come from the passenger cabin behind him. Taylor was doing a pretty good job of calming everyone else down. They were probably playing charades for all he knew.

  “Any updates?” Carlos asked Kai.

  “Well, this thing isn’t fixing itself,” he said.

  “Yes I know that, but how long will it take for a certain pilot to fix it?”

  “Right now all I know is that the engine’s probably overheated primarily because this ship is just a transporter, not a high speed getaway vehicle. So basically we’ve overloaded its circuitry. Overheating means any section of the wiring in the engine could have short circuited.”

  “So it’s like a loose connection?” Q asked.

  “Unlikely that this ship, with its level of technology, would have a problem that trivial, but yes. It’s a loose connection.”

  He sighed and sat down. “The red you saw meant the energy in the circuit had accumulated at that point in the wire because of a blockage, and this energy passed onto the wall, which heated it up into a dull red shade. So now I’ve created a bypass circuit to create an unblocked path for the energy flow but seems like this isn’t the only blockage in the circuit.”

  “Can’t we ask someone for help?” Q asked.

  “S.O.S signals could alert potential enemies as well,” Carlos said. “I’d rather be stranded than massacred.”

  “Don’t you have any spells for something like this?” Kai asked.

  “Those aren’t spells,” Carlos sighed. “They’re wave-skills. There’s a difference.”

  “You call out names when you use a spell don’t you?”

  “That’s a training exercise. Your mind relates your actions and thoughts to the word, so it becomes easier for you to use the action, hence, a ‘spell’.”

  “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

  Carlos sighed, “Every ‘wave’ move I use is just manipulation of the air around me. There really isn’t much I can do right now. Space literally has no air in it.”

  “Ugh,” Kai turned to Q. “What about you, kiddo? Have you got any special powers?”

  Q opened his mouth.

  “Nah, I was just messing with you,” Kai laughed.

  Jerk, Q thought. He didn’t get if this guy was naturally happy-go-lucky, or if he was just using that excuse to prod at him and Carlos. Based on what he saw he’d say there was a good chance it could be either one.

  Taylor walked into the cabin looking desperate. “How much longer will this take?” she asked.

  “We’re stranded out here,” Kai said. “The engine’s busted, and we really can’t head into subzero space right now.”

  “That’s what you idiots are fighting for?”

  “Whoa, whoa. Calm down, blondie. What’s up with you?”

  Q saw her close her eyes and focus her breathing. Usually that meant she was about to throw her opponent into the air, and based on the conversation that had just happened he figured that was a likely possibility.

  “Carlos may I have it back?”

  He threw a black bracelet at her.

  She put it on her wrist, “Ethosien,” she said.

  “Wait, what?” Kai got cut off by a glowing white light that scorched the room.

  And when it died down Taylor was standing there in a piece of high tech armor that was a pure, matte black. Electric blue eyes
glared through the dark, transparent visor on the helmet.

  Q couldn’t believe this was Taylor. Her entire body was covered in this armor, and she looked even deadlier with its angled and pointy design.

  A dark aura, almost a haze like presence, spread around the armor, and Q had to admit it really made her look like a god from the underworld. He couldn’t tell her that of course, simply because he didn’t want to be the one who got thrown over her head.

  “You boys sit down here and tell me what to fix,” she looked up to the square, glass section on the ceiling. “Time for a spacewalk.”

  ***

  Taylor felt tense.

  Well maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was all alone outside a ship, trying to fix something she’d probably never seen before. So much for being confident, she thought.

  She’d been around military ships enough to know them inside out, but a high speed getaway on a passenger transporter wasn’t exactly a situation she’d trained herself for.

  Empty, she thought. The space all around her was just, well, space. No planets, no asteroids. Nothing. Just dull rays of light from distant stars.

  Her suit’s intercom crackled, “Hello? Can you hear me?”

  “Yes, Kai, I can hear you,” she said, trying to sound as efficient as possible.

  “I’m going to deactivate the temporary thrusters, you’ll feel a small bump, so hold onto the railings at the top.” Taylor put her arm through a small metal loop and held on tight.

  “Deactivating in three, two, and one!” A mild jerk hit her arm and vanished as fast as it had come.

  “Okay we’re stable,” he said.

  “What do I do now?”

  “We’re moving at constant speed in space. So as long as you don’t drop down too hard you’ll be close enough for the ship to pull you back in.”

  “Wait, drop?”

  “Yeah, the engine is in the rear. So you’re going to have to drop off the edge and latch onto the rear.”

  “Any ledges? Something I can grab onto?”

  “I think there’s a ladder down there.”

  “Well, that’s reassuring.”

  “We could always use the frontal thruster in case you slip up, but if you mess up too badly it’ll be bye bye, Taylor.”

  “That’s the pep talk I needed,” she mumbled.

  The top of the ship curved into the rear end, which meant she’d have to slide down to get close to the rear. And the margin of error on that one was pretty big,

  “How am I supposed to lower myself?”

  “The rear emergency thruster uses electricity to start. The electricity should give us a strong enough magnetic field to pull you into the engine. So as long as you drop down we should be able to pull you towards the engine.”

  “Whoaa, there is no way you can guarantee safety on this can you?”

  The intercom stayed quiet for a bit, “We can’t,” Carlos’ voice said.

  She remained quiet, “When will I know if the plan has worked or failed?”

  “If it works you should feel a strong force pulling you in,” Kai said. “You’ll feel it for just a second. It should be strong enough to make you move a little faster than the ship, so you’ll reach the rear end in under ten seconds.”

  “Fine. Anything else?”

  “Try to get as close to the edge as you can, and push yourself down.”

  “Okay.”

  She breathed in, and held her breath.

  I’m going to do this, she thought. Everything will be fine.

  Breathe out.

  She walked towards the edge, which was very hard because a slightly heavier step meant she’d get lifted off the ship, and there was no gravity to pull her back down.

  Luckily though, the edge had a few protrusions, which meant she how had a way to pull herself down towards the engine.

  “Where exactly should I position myself?”

  “You have to be right outside the engine, and keep your body upright. The stiffer you are the greater the magnetic force will be.”

  She pushed herself onto the spikes and grabbed them with both hands. There was no way she was taking any chances in this situation. She shimmied across to the edge and hung down, her hands still on the spike.

  “Steady now, let go on my count,” Kai said. “Three, two-”

  She felt a huge jerk on her arm, and both hands slipped from the spikes.

  All she could see in front of her were two flailing arms, and a passenger ship slowly moving away from her.

  ***

  2-5

  Taylor’s intercom buzzed as voices filtered through it.

  “What in the world happened?” Carlos yelled at Kai.

  “The circuit overload caused the thrusters to malfunction. The blockage seems to have gotten more widespread.”

  The ship jerked once more, but this time instead of speeding up, the ship slowed down.

  Her heart instantly lifted, and her face switched into a wide smile.

  “Guys, I’m moving closer,” Taylor said.

  “Great, you should be heading closer to the lower region of the rear end,” Kai said.

  “Affirmative.”

  “You’ll reach in about thirty seconds.”

  “What happened back there?”

  “The total blockage points in the ship’s circuitry increased and made all that energy that was supposed to be flowing to the engine redirect and flow into the emergency thrusters.”

  “What about the second burst?”

  “I guess we got lucky.”

  “Yeah the frontal thruster just happened to fire and slow the ship down.”

  “You should have contact in 3...2...Go!”

  “I’m at the rear.”

  “Do you have anything to hold onto?”

  “Just the ladders.”

  “Any tethers?”

  “None.”

  Kai sighed, “Listen, you’re going to have to keep yourself tethered to the ladder to prevent any accidental misfiring from leaving you stranded.”

  “I guess I’ll have to use my feet to hold onto the ladder.”

  “That’d probably work,” he said. “Once you’ve done that take out the toolkit I gave you. It’s the round white stick.”

  “One second…..tethering to ladder…..okay, the toolkit….now what?”

  “The toolkit is pretty versatile, and I can control it from inside here. So for now all you need to do is hold it above a certain point.”

  “Which is?”

  “If you move up and a little to the left, you should see six triangles around a dark circle, in a sort of star like symbol.”

  She pulled herself up the ladder until he asked her to stop. To her right was that collection of triangles like he’d said.

  “Found it,” she said.

  “Can you reach it?”

  “I think I can.”

  “Great, then hold the edge of the toolkit right above the circle and wait for a bit.”

  “Okay,” she said. She held onto the ladder as tight as she could, leaned to her left and held out the white stick, the edge barely reaching the symbol.

  “Activating laser array,” Kai said.

  She saw a small portion of the edge’s surface give away and a sharp blue light shot through. It drew a clear circle right around the symbol and retracted back into the toolkit.

  “Alright, our laser has cut through the metal surface.”

  “What next?”

  “You’re going to have to remove the cut piece from the metal end.”

  “But if I pull too hard?”

  “You could lose your hold on the ladder and fall into space, yes, which is why we don’t want you to pull.”

  “What?”

  “Push hard into the metal cut out. If you punch hard enough your hand will go clean through instead of rebounding away. That way you’ll stay with the ship instead of recoiling from it.”

  “Anything else I should be aware of?”

  “Ther
e’s a lot of sensitive equipment deep inside the rear, so don’t umm…hit it too hard.”

  “Punch hard and don’t break anything. Piece of cake,” she said with all the sarcasm in the world. She leaned over to get closer to the cutout, and steadied herself.

  Here goes nothing, she thought.

  She recoiled her fist and rammed into the cut metal circle. Her hand went through smoothly and it all seemed fine. Then she felt the ladder turn wobbly.

  Oh god, she thought. The bolts tethering the base came loose and the ladder slowly rotated from a vertical position to a horizontal one.

  No no no, she cursed. What kind of terrible luck is this?

  The ladder disconnection by itself wasn’t too big a problem. She could always get back to the ship with the ladder in that position. But she still needed to work on the engine, and now that the ladder had disoriented itself she had no way of getting close to the cutout she had made.

  “What do I do?” she asked. Nothing but silence.

  “Well,” Carlos said. “You could try to attach the toolkit to something, like an extended handle.”

  The ship jerked again, slowing down more. Taylor held on tight as the ladder rotated back to its normal position.

  “Hold the toolkit at the base of the ladder,” Kai said. “Now!”

  She arched her back and held the device right at the base.

  The blue laser shot out again, only this time it didn’t cut anything. It melted some metal off of the ladder and made it permanently fuse with the ship. There was no way that was coming off again.

  She breathed slowly and calmed down. “What happened this time?” she asked.

  “The frontal thrusters,” Kai said. “They fired. Again.”

  “And I take it that’s bad because?”

  Carlos’ voice cackled onto the intercom, “It means the first time wasn’t just a mistake. Someone’s controlling our thrusters.”

  The intercom line went silent for a bit. “I’ll go to the pit and check for possible interference,” he said. Taylor could hear his steps slowly fade away into the distance.

  “Um… so you’re in the cut section?” Kai confirmed.

  “Yeah. I’m staring at this huge cluster of wires in here.”