The Rescue – Part 1

“You crazy teenagers are both going to be killed!” Jason Pratt said. “Don’t you know that Kadambari is a closed star system?”

Matt and Harry Norton ignored him. The two of them carefully picked him off the ground, laid the injured man on the stretcher they had brought with them, and secured him to it. They then each lifted one end of it and began running across the airfield to their starship, the Isabella. Overhead a canopy of stars glittered in the blackness of space, and in the distance other asteroids could be seen – but no pursuers, yet.

It was difficult carrying Jason to the Isabella. Gravity on the small, unnamed asteroid upon which they had found him was barely enough to keep their feet on the ground. Each step sent them soaring 20 feet in the air, and it was all they could do to keep from losing their balance and spilling the badly injured man onto the ground. They could hear Jason’s groans over their suit radios every time they took a step.

“I knew we should’ve brought magnetic boots,” Harry told his brother Matt.

“This isn’t an iron asteroid,” Matt replied. “It wouldn’t have made any difference. This asteroid’s mineral composition – ”

“You should never have come in the first place,” the elderly man repeated. “I’m very glad you did, but it’s much too dangerous. What on earth are you kids doing here?”

“We’re rescuing you, of course,” Harry said. “You didn’t really think that we would leave an old friend like you here for the Kadambari Army to find, did you? They’ve been hunting for you for three days now – ever since you crashed your escape pod into this forgotten asteroid. I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

“Alive is a generous term for it. I’ve lost track of the number of bones that I’ve broken. You kids didn’t happen to bring any medical supplies with you, eh?”

“That would have been another good thing to bring,” Matt reflected. “As a matter of fact, we were kind of in a hurry to leave.”

“Wonderful. I’ll try to avoid passing out from pain.”

“We’re almost there,” Harry assured him. “The ship is only 200 feet away. We’ll have you on board and will be out of here within two minutes, tops.”

“How did you ever find me?” Jason asked.

“I have some friends in the Space Corps,” Matt replied. “They gave me your transponder code, and I was able to track you down by searching for it.”

“I’m surprised that the transponder is still working,” Jason said. “But I still don’t understand. Why would they help you rescue me? Isn’t our government trying to pursue normal trade relations with the Kadambari right now?”

“I have no idea,” Harry said.

“As a matter of fact,” Matt said, “the government of – ”

“Hurry up, Matt, and open the door – you’ve got the remote.”

As the two brothers ran up to the ship, Matt took a remote out of his pocket, aimed it at the small craft, and pressed a button. A large door in the side of the ship slid open. The two rushed in and set Jason down inside the cargo hold, which was a small, empty metal room about ten feet on each side. Directly behind the cargo hold were the engines; in front of the cargo hold was the pilot’s cockpit and instrument panel.

Harry stayed in the cargo hold with Jason while Matt closed the door and leaped into the pilot’s seat. He began to power up the ship and prepare it for an immediate liftoff.

Harry strapped Jason’s stretcher down to the floor. “This isn’t actually a luxury spaceliner,” he said, apologizing.

“It looks pretty good to me,” the old man replied. “I’m thrilled just to be here.”

“The takeoff is going to be a bit rough,” Matt shouted from the cockpit as the ship’s engines began to whine. “We’re kind of in a hurry.”

His point was illustrated a few seconds later when the ship leaped off the asteroid and hurtled into space. Harry saw Jason wince in pain at the sudden acceleration, but there was nothing he could do to help him – not until they left Kadambari territory.

“How did you get in this mess, anyway?” Harry asked. “Matt and I learned three days ago that you had run into some trouble, but that’s all we were able to find out.”

“Oh, well, it was just one of those things,” Jason said. “I planted a church here twenty years ago – before it was a closed system, you know.”

Harry nodded. “I remember. But that was twenty years ago, and you’ve been retired for ages. You even sold the company you built.”

“Well, yes, but I’ve kept in touch with the Kadambari Christians sporadically over the years, as we had the chance. It’s not easy getting messages in and out of Kadambari – believe me, it’s not – but it’s possible, if you’re gutsy and have nerves of steel. At first they were doing pretty well, but over time things had started getting really bad. Things had become so desperate that it began to look like they wouldn’t survive, so I decided that something had to be done. Since no one else could help them I decided to pay them a visit and bring what I could – medical supplies, food, and copies of the Scriptures.”

Harry shook his head. “How on earth did you even get inside the system? The Kadambari Army is not known for its love of outsiders – especially when they are uninvited guests, and even more especially when they are pastors.”

“I’m amazed that you survived long enough to find me, you irresponsible young man. I’m telling you, our chances of survival are not good. This is mighty dangerous country. I don’t mind risking my own life – I’m an old man, you know – but I never intended to risk anyone else’s.”

Harry grinned. “What I want to know is how you managed to survive for three days on that asteroid with all these injuries you’ve got. I wish I could do something for you but this isn’t a medical ship and I’m not a doctor – you’re going to have to wait until we reach the S. S. Perry.”

“The what?”

“When we heard that you had entered Kadambari territory and hadn’t come back on schedule we started asking around for your transponder codes so we could go look for you. Your company knew that you had left – they got your message – but you never arrived back home, so we thought it might barely be possible that you were hiding out in the asteroids. When our government found out what was going on they agreed to help. Officially they can’t enter Kadambari space, of course, but they have stationed the S. S. Perry just outside the border and have promised to stop anyone from pursuing us if we can make it back. Once we cross the border they will take us on board and patch you back together.”

“Oh,” he replied. “So we might survive after all.”

“I wouldn’t go quite that fast,” Matt warned from the cockpit as a series of beeps began sounding. “We have trouble.”

“Is it serious?” Harry asked Matt.

“Oh, it’s only eight Kadambari warships. I can’t tell what kind they are because they’re cloaked, but they’re moving in mighty fast.”

“Eh?” Jason said. “If they’re cloaked how can you see them?”

“The same way they can see us, even though we’re cloaked,” Matt replied. “Tricks of the trade.”

“Remind me not to ask what trade you’re involved in,” Jason replied.

“Do you think they’ll be able to catch us?” Harry asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out now.” Matt pressed some buttons on the ship’s console and began running a few calculations. After a few minutes he sighed.

“Yes, they’ll catch us. We have about twenty minutes, I think, before they’ll be within missile range, but at that point we’ll still be in their territory.” He drummed his fingers on the console and looked thoughtfully out the window.

“Well, can’t you just go faster?” Jason asked.

“That is the question, all right,” Matt said. “We’re already accelerating as much as we can; if we try to push it any more our engine will burn out and we’ll be a real easy target then. I’m pushing her as fast as she can go.”

“So should we start writing our last will and testament?”

“Not necessarily. There is something we can try, but it’s not exactly recommended in the owner’s manual.”

“I don’t know that I like the sound of that,” Jason said.

Matt turned around and looked at Harry, and Harry’s eyes got wide. “I know what you’re thinking and I don’t like it. You can’t be serious.”

“Do you have any other ideas?” Matt asked.

“I don’t know that I would call your suggestion an idea, exactly. Suicide, maybe, but not an idea.”

“I admit it might void our warranty, but it’s a chance. It’s a sure thing that if we do nothing we’ll be spacedust in – what – fifteen minutes.”

Harry bit his lip and was quiet for a few moments. “Ok,” he said. “I’ll get it ready. I’d suggest waiting until they’re breathing down our necks, though. This is not reversible, and the chance of success is not high.”

“I know. But hurry – we don’t have much time.”

Harry removed an access panel that was in the floor beside their injured passenger and got to work. Matt continued to monitor the approach of the incoming ships; they were much closer now but he still couldn’t tell what kind they are. Based on their speed he was sure they were warships, and powerful ones at that; given that his ship was unarmed and had only light shields he knew that it would be no contest – any armed vessel could blow them out of space.

“I hate to bother you,” Jason said, “but could you tell an old man what are you doing?”

Harry started talking without stopping his work. “Well, here’s the deal. The Isabella has a large fuel supply, but it can only react it so fast. If we pour too much fuel into the engine at once it will burn out and you’ll end up drifting in space. You’ll be going pretty fast, since in space you don’t slow down when you stop your engines, but you won’t have any control over which way you’re going and you won’t be able to stop.

“So we can’t do that. What we can do, provided I can disable all of these safety switches in time, is dump the entire fuel supply into the reactor at once. It will cause a massive burn – more like an explosion, really – that should, hopefully, push us forward with a tremendous burst of speed. As long as the engine doesn’t explode and kill us it should be more than enough to propel us into our home territory, where the S. S. Perry will stop the Kadambari ships from pursuing us any further. The engine will burn out, of course, at that point it won’t matter because we’ll be in our own territory and the S. S. Perry will be there to rescue us.”

“Ah. That sounds a little dangerous. Have you ever tried this before?”

“Well, not exactly, but it should work – in theory, at least. Now it will probably cause a big explosion, and a fire, and there will be smoke, and ashes, and a lot of things will burn out, but it should work.”

“I’ll start praying now,” Jason said.

“Please do,” Harry replied.

“Are you ready?” Matt yelled. “They’re closing in fast!”

Harry replaced the access panel and securely fastened it to the floor. “Ready when you are.”

Matt saw that the nearest ships had already decloaked and begun firing missiles. He hurriedly threw the switch to begin the burn.

There was tremendous explosion and a deafening noise. Equipment began shorting out and circuit boards caught fire, and the cabin was soon filled with smoke. The ship shot forward at a tremendous rate as Matt tried to engage the emergency systems and Harry grabbed a fire extinguisher.

“We all seem to be in one piece, at least,” Matt said, coughing from the smoke. “And we’re going – wow! – pretty fast, actually.”

“I should hope so,” Harry said. “How fast?”

“Fast enough, I think. In fact – wow! Look at that! The Kadambari ships have actually stopped their pursuit. We must be too close to the border for their liking – I bet they see the S. S. Perry. They know they can’t catch us now so they’re letting us go.” He heaved a sigh of relief.

Ten minutes later they crossed the border and left Kadambari space. The giant battleship S. S. Perry was waiting for them. Matt reflected that it was easily larger than the combined size of all eight Kadambari ships that had been pursuing them, and could probably have destroyed them all without even breaking a sweat.

Matt contacted it via the cockpit radio – one of the only systems on board that was still working. “Are we ever glad to see you! Things were getting pretty hot back there. Do you think you can beam us on board? Our ship – ”

A giant bolt of brilliant green light shot out from the S. S. Perry. The beam struck the Isabella and blew it into atoms, instantly killing everyone on board.

As the wreckage of their ship drifted aimlessly in space, the captain of the S. S. Perry contacted one of the Kadambari ships that had been chasing them.

“This is Commander Barnett of the S. S. Perry. What do you think you’re doing, letting them escape out of your territory? Are you so incompetent that you can’t even destroy a single unarmed transport vessel?”

“This is Adan Arroyo, Captain of the Kadambari ship Sumac. Just be glad that you held up your end of the bargain, Commander, and did not allow the impure influence to escape. I will report your cooperation to my superiors, who will be most pleased. This will go far to normalize relations between our peoples. Adan out.”

As soon as the Sumac had ended the transmission all eight Kadambari ships turned around and headed back to their home planet. The S. S. Perry watched them depart, and then turned around and headed back to port.

(To be continued…)