Chapter 5 - Run to the Stars

“Explain it again.”1

Brody shook his head as he flipped some more switches. He was feverishly moving around inside the ship, doing one thing or another. The vessel was unlike any Cliff had ever seen before. It was large, almost too large for Brody to be able man by himself, and yet there was no crew present. Instead, they ran through a lifeless hull while Brody paused every few moments to check something. His almost frightened sense of urgency was creeping into Cliff, though.2

“I don’t know if I can,” Brody began, opening a door as they proceeded into what looked like the cockpit. “Your friend is fine now, that’s all that matters. I managed to release him, and as long as your girlfriend doesn’t do anything stupid, he should recover in a couple of minutes.”3

Cliff coughed violently as he stumbled into the room. “Hey, hold on there! Kelly is not my girlfriend, man. I practically raised her from when she was little; that’s just a little weird.”4

He grabbed Brody’s arm. It was almost too sudden when Brody whirled around and pointed a gun at Cliff’s head. Cliff froze, feeling his heart turn cold.5

“Let’s not forget the pretenses of why we are here.” His voice echoed through the dark room, where moments later the automatic lights turned on, revealing a pilot’s chair in front of many screens and an open view to outside. The emptiness following the illumination was chilling, adding to the weight of Brody’s words.6

Cliff remembered. 7

Brody’s temperament had similarly changed moments after exchanging their greeting. Normally a suspicious person, or usually good at reading people, Cliff was completely taken by surprise when Brody pulled a gun on them. Cursing himself later for abandoning his better judgment, especially following the double-cross from earlier that night, he had to disarm before Brody would put his gun away. The confusing night only became more muddled.8

This stranger called himself a space pirate, something Cliff had never seen before. He had heard stories of outlaws, people who venture on their own in the vast reaches of space, but they were merely stories. Nobody had ever left the planet; it was a fool’s dream to gaze at the occasional visiting cargo ship and long to leave with it. Nobody ever came to this planet either. Now, in the past night Cliff had met several off-worlders, and standing before him was another. 9

Cliff didn’t lose his composure, even though now he felt more like he was being kidnapped more than being helped. He still could not shake the feeling he had from the brief duel earlier. It was only a split second Cliff saw before he blacked out, but he was sure that Brody had almost grabbed at his fired shot, and yet his hands were unharmed. Now, this very man was pointing a gun at Cliff’s face once again.10

“I’m a nice guy, but you have made this situation very complicated,” Brody continued. “I could have killed you all and left, but I’m not the kind that kills indiscriminately.”11

“Then why help us?” Cliff asked, meeting Brody’s cold stare.12

Brody then cracked a smile. “Because you may be useful, and like it or not, you’re in a whole lot of trouble now. Some trouble, you’ve never even imagined before.”13

Cliff continued to stare Brody down. All faith had been put into this new man’s hands, someone who had just appeared and proclaimed some sort of apocalypse. His suspicion fueled his defiance, but his heart betrayed his thoughts. He could tell that Brody had helped Ziggy, and that Kelly believed everything Brody had said. Her look as Brody talked moved Cliff, and he put his trust in that.14

“That’s not the greatest reason, you know?”15

Brody laughed a little. “Yeah, well you guys have seen me. I didn’t expect to be seen, and I don’t want to be. I like flying under the radar, and you guys could easily give me away.”16

With that, he put his gun down and sat down in the main chair. He had lost his smile, and was looking almost disgusted at the gun he held. Shaking his head, he continued, “And your loyalty to your allies is truly spectacular. That little girl, and you, have a lot of heart. I didn’t want to kill you.”17

“I thought you just said you don’t kill indiscriminately?” Cliff asked offhand.18

Brody didn’t answer. Cliff wanted to say more, suddenly aware that there was more that Brody wasn’t saying but the ship had already begun its startup, as it began to light up everywhere. It was here that time seemed to slow down as many things happened at once. 19

“Uriel, begin warming up engines one and two, and prepare an escape trajectory,” Brody said.20

“Recognizing…Brody. Engines one and two initializing, gathering stellar data for trajectory,” a soft voice responded. Several transparent screens appeared around the room, encircling Brody as his seat rose and several panels moved forward. Each screen lit up with something different, the foremost of which Cliff could recognize as being an outside view of the ship, though that image quickly faded away for a long stream of symbols that Cliff could not read.21

“What was that?”22

“That’s Uriel, my ship,” Brody said, turning his head around from his controls. “He can be a bit boring, but he’s the most efficient artificial interface there is. Haven’t you seen one before?”23

Cliff shook his head. “I’ve never seen a talking ship.”24

“You’ve never left this planet, have you?” Brody asked. Not waiting for an answer, he just laughed. “You’re going to have a rude awakening to how things work, Cliff.”25

“Brody, I’m detecting an abnormal energy reading,” Uriel resounded.26

“Can you tell me what it is?”27

One of the screens enlarged and revealed an image from above an atmosphere, which Cliff quickly realized was the outer view of his planet. He recognized many of the star formations, which had been blocked out for the last hour. However, littered everywhere were spaceships in great variety. It seemed several were stationary, while some were moving around and accompanied by flashes of light.28

“It appears that many vessels are leaving this planet at this time, with the planet surrounded by thousands of small cruisers.”29

“Heh, pirates, they all want to take the opportunity to plunder a doomed planet.”30

Cliff gave Brody a dirty look.31

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m telling you, your friends will be fine. They won’t be killed; I can say that with certainty. You need to get as far away from here as possible.”32

Cliff walked across the oval shaped cockpit, his boots clanging against the steel floor as he passed by the center, where Brody’s seat lay immersed in a metal mass. He took a closer look at the screen of the outer atmosphere, and his eyes widened.33

“Are those ships fighting each other?”34

“Most likely,” Brody answered, typing in something on the panel to his right. “Pirates, entrepreneurs, criminals, armies…they all fight each other, hoping to take what another has taken. Right now, the chaos is up there, but it will soon be down here. The good thing for both of us is that ‘They’ have yet to come. When that happens, if you’re here, I doubt anything will be left.”35

Cliff did not care to ask for explanation again. Whatever was happening, he had caused it, and if he could fix it to let Dana, Zackary, and Ed survive what was going to happen, then he was going to do it.36

“Path trajectory complete, though we will most likely be pursued,” Uriel butt in.37

“Can you outrun them?”38

“Most certainly,” Uriel said, with what Cliff thought was a hint of indignation.39

“Great, prepare all systems for takeoff, and put this kid in your memory bank. He’s going to man the takeoff while I go to the engine room.”40

“Cliff Liddl has been entered in the database; the ship now has a crew.”41

With that, Brody got up from his seat and made his way to the door.42

“Wait a minute,” Cliff protested. “I’ve never flown a spaceship before.”43

Brody stopped and gave Cliff a questioning look. “Don’t worry about it; I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ve seen your reflexes, which is all you’ll need for this because Uriel will do most of the work in takeoff; he’s good like that.”44

There was a rumble through the ship, as the sound of the engines turning up began to rise. Still confused, Cliff took the seat as Brody took off into the ship. It stood immersed in a large mass, elevated above the ground by a good three feet, and surrounded by a lot of controls and transparent screens from before. Cliff looked around at all the controls, and quietly took hold of the wheel in front of him.45

“That’s not for maneuvering purposes,” Uriel said.46

“I knew that!”47

Inside the hull, Ziggy groggily sat up, blinking wildly as he looked at his hands. He was disoriented, unsure of where he was, but thankful that he could feel again. Beside him, he saw the concerned look of Kelly, who was watching him in silence. He had yet to find his voice, and instead tried to take in his surroundings. To him, it appeared that they were in some kind of small warehouse, lined with lights and electronic panels. There were many large containers and cabinets, along with displays of items that Ziggy could not yet make out.48

“Where are we?” he finally asked, discovering his voice.49

“Somewhere safe, I think.” Kelly answered.50

“What happened?”51

“This can all be explained later,” Brody said, as he marched in. He busied himself with a side panel, typing something in before removing a hatch and climbing into the wall. His head popped back out a few minutes later.52

“I expect you have numerous questions, but if we want to get out of here alive, then you had better do what I say,” Brody continued. “Now, big guy, I need your help over here.”53

Ziggy looked over at Kelly, who just nodded solemnly. He knew right away that there was something else bothering her, but he couldn’t grasp it. As he walked toward Brody, he began to understand, noticing the metal surroundings and hearing the growing noise coming from the engines.54

“We’re on a ship,” he said under his breath. “What about Cliff? Is he actually on this?”55

“I said no questions!” Brody snapped, as he handed Ziggy a circuit board. “I want you to input the code as I read it from inside.”56

Ziggy stole a look at Kelly as Brody slipped back behind the panel. She nodded, indicating that what was now worrying him was also worrying her. The ship began to vibrate for a few seconds as the engines grew louder, though the vibrations ceased quickly.57

“Inertial dampeners,” Kelly mused, as Brody began giving Ziggy the code. It dawned on her that they were really leaving, and stealing a look down the hull to the door to the cockpit, she could not help but feel afraid of what was to come. She only hoped that they would be back before anything happened.58

“Did you put it in?” Brody asked, as he popped his head out.59

“Yeah.”60

“Then we’re good to go. Uriel hasn’t had to use these functions in a long time,” Brody said.61

No sooner had the words escaped his mouth did the engines flare, and the shaking truly started as the ship began to take off. Outside, nobody was around to see a four-pronged, dark ship rocket off the ground and into the sky, fiery tendrils emanating from two prongs and lighting up the area for a brief moment. A column of smoke and ash followed its trail from the ground, the ship now illuminated in its dark green hue.62

Inside, Brody smiled. As he tapped the panel one more time, a large section of the side opened up, revealing a corridor that seemed to lead to outside the ship. No rush of air came in, instead as Ziggy and Kelly walked with Brody down the corridor, they witnessed as the ground seemed to disappear and the dark embrace space soon took over.63

Without warning, the ship shook, causing Ziggy and Kelly to quickly lose their feet. The feeling of several impacts overtook the ship, grounding the two, while Brody remained afoot. He looked at them both, and grinned almost expectantly.64

“And now, it begins.”