"The Anti-X Encounter"
Part 1
Zana and Rivqua were in the middle of a synchronized dance step. Or rather, they were in the middle of practising a rather complicated step to make it more synchronized than it had been last night.
In yesterday's show they'd been slightly apart. Only by a few tenths of a second. Nothing serious. At the time the girls had exchanged a knowing little look, as they often did when some detail was a teeny bit off, and carried right on. After all, you never show the audience something's amiss, however small or large.
Small though it was, Zana couldn't stand it. She was a perfectionist and insisted upon polishing the step until it flowed like clockwork.
So here they both were, each with a foot off the cabin floor, spinning in absolute perfection when, all of a sudden, the Star Bucket slammed its brakes on.
The Blonde Plutoz ended up a very unsynchronized pile of limbs against the cockpit wall.
Picking themselves up they looked into the empty cockpit.
"Yes!?" Zana shouted. "Is something wrong?"
"A serious discrepancy," said the voice of Captain Bucket, the autopilot. "The star field navigation charts don't match our actual position."
"Is that a reason to slow down so abruptly?"
"A very good reason, Miss Zana. We find ourselves in uncharted territory."
"That could be risky," agreed Rivqua. "If it's uncharted we have no info on it. We don't know what's out there."
"I suspect the borders have been shifted," the Captain said. "The quadrant appears to be much larger now."
"Borders shifted?" said Rivqua. She doubted it. "Who would do a thing like that?"
"Either the Galactic Federation, a local cluster authority, inter-system corporation, private owner, rogue claimant or other such entity."
"Are you saying we've entered a mysterious, unofficial quadrant?" Zana said.
"Correct. In view of the risks I had no choice but to bring us down to sub-light speed."
"You did right, Captain," said Rivqua. "How old are your star maps?"
"I make sure to have all the latest editions, Miss Rivqua. But then, the map office is twenty-five thousand light years away..."
"What was here before, do you know?" Zana said.
"I'm looking it up now," the Star Bucket's trusty autopilot replied. "Ah. Interesting. It used to be a military installation, operated by the Federation."
"Used to be?"
"It was closed down two and a half eons ago."
"Mm." Rivqua bit her lip. "You'd better turn us around, Captain. Get us out of here and plot a new course around this strange quadrant. I'm getting a bad feeling-"
Whatever Rivqua's bad feeling was, they were too late. Because just then a harsh voice rasped over the radio.
"Intruder! You are intercepted! Reduce your speed!"
"Excuse me, what?" said Zana. "Who is this?"
"I am Smart Nook! You have trespassed into the forbidden zone! Identify yourself!"
"What are you talking about, forbidden zone?" Zana snapped. "We didn't know! We're just passing through! We're rock stars!"
"Rock stars? That does not compute! Give the password!"
"Password!? What pass-? We're the Blonde Plutoz!"
"It's no use, Zana," said Rivqua. "It's an artificial brain. A bunch of algorithms playing tough-nuts."
"Blonde Plutoz is the wrong password!" the voice said, sounding more and more threatening. "You will have to come with me!"
Zana shouted back. "Will you shut up for a second and listen, you over-clocked hothead! We're not intruders! We were just passing through, okay? And now we're leaving! Do you understand? We're leaving! So you can take your forbidden quadrant and shove it up the zone where gas clouds form!"
"Negative! The quadrant remains! Gas cloud is the wrong password! You are trespassing! Your fate is sealed, intruder! Follow me or suffer the consequences!"
"What consequences?" Rivqua said. "We told you we are leaving! What right do you have to stop us?"
"You think I cannot stop you? Direct your scanners to starboard and see!"
"Oh dear oh dear," said Captain Bucket quickly. Rivqua and Zana looked out of the cockpit window.
There, flying alongside them on the right side, was a large drone. Black as night and loaded with bombs, missiles and guns that pointed in every direction. It looked like a giant high-tech and completely deadly pincushion.
"Like what you see, intruder?" said the arrogant voice, like a steak talking to a noodle. "Now follow me! Or be vaporized to sub-atomic dust in a nanosecond! That will stop you!"
Stay tuned for Part 2 of "The Anti-X Encounter"!
No comments:
Post a Comment