“Lost World of the Void” First Chapter

15. Flight of the Silent Horizon

Fire erupted from the engine room and began to spread throughout the rear of the Silent Horizon.

“Robbie! Help us out!” Dex barked orders at the small ash-black robot. The two of them held back the flames of the overworked hyperdrive engine.

Music blared over the crew’s shouting. Lacy tried shutting it off so she could think, but one alarm sounded after another and got in her way on the computer. Fire in the engine room! Fire in the airlock! Life support critical! Fire in the greenhouse! Engine critical!

“Dex, hurry up! This whole ship is about to blow!” Lacy cried.

Any moment now their atoms would be dispersed into the universe, flying at the speed of light in a million different directions. Dex and the robot pushed on, holding back the flames.

“Dex! The engine!”

“I know, I know! Vent it!” Dex called back.

“Vent is offline! System’s totally fried!”

“Damn! Can you shut off the airflow?”

Lacy checked the few remaining controls they had. Sweat dripped from her brow into her eyes. “It’ll have to be a complete life support shutdown.”

“All right, I’m getting there!” He shoved the robot closer to the engine room door. “Go on, you worry about the engine, I’ll get the hall!”

“It is too hot in there.” The robot said matter-of-factly. 

“You’ll be fine!” A burst of flames shot out through the doorway, inches from Dex’s face. The heat was overwhelming. “You’re strong, you got this! Just go! Fast!”

“I am not.” He tried to back away, but Dex pushed him further in.

“I believe in you, go!”

Robbie processed the chances of success. He had a light but tough metal shell. There was a high chance his circuits would melt, but there was also a guarantee that the ship would be destroyed if he didn’t act.

“I will g-”

“Great!” Dex cut him off. “Shut it down, Lacy! And hold your breath!”

Robbie wobbled as fast as he could into the engine room and flailed his extinguisher arm every which way, attacking the flames with extreme prejudice.

Lacy deactivated the life support and rushed to grab an oxygen tank from their space suits in the rear of the cabin.

The flames ate up the remaining oxygen in the ship. Dex held his breath as he and Robbie fought off what remained of the fire. When he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, Dex rushed to join Lacy. They took turns breathing through the tank and prayed Robbie would be able to clear out the room.

Between breaths, Dex called out to the robot. “Robbie, how’s it looking?”

“Fire is out. There is no air. I cannot breathe.”

Lacy’s eyes went wide and rushed to save him. “Robbie!” She screamed and dropped the tank into Dex’s hands.

“Lacy, wait!” Dex grabbed her by the arm.

“He’s going to…” she struggled for air, “die in there!”

Dex took a deep breath from the tank, handed it back to her then held up a finger, telling her to wait.

Robbie stepped out from the airlock hall. “It is a good thing I do not need to breathe. The fire is clear.”

Dex gave the robot a thumbs up, then patted Lacy on the shoulder, signaling her to turn the life support system back on before his face could turn a deep blue.

The crisis was averted for the time being. Battle scars from their escape from the Empire displayed themselves proudly on the Silent Horizon. The outer hull was heavily damaged, streaked with laser burns from the Empire’s Zar-Meck starfighters. Ash from the fire caked the ceiling of the airlock hallway, engine room, and the artificial greenhouse. The newly installed hyperdrive had been activated too frequently and it was taking its toll. In the main cabin lay the corpse of the faceless imperial officer, Jaskek Dreed.

Robbie the robot offered to move the body out of the way. He’d been freed from his imperial programming by Lacy, but still felt discomfort at seeing the body.

“Where would you like me to put this?” Robbie asked, holding up the foot of the corpse.

“Over in the hallway, buddy. We’ll dump him when we pull out of hyperspeed.”

Robbie nodded in acknowledgement then struggled to pull the corpse into the Silent Horizon’s hallway. 

“What do you say we get this…stuff…off you, dear?” Dex traced the backs of his fingers down Lacy’s scarlet-painted cheeks.

She was adorning a magnificent scarlet sacrificial dress, with beautiful jewels around her neck and in her hair, and her skin was painted in such a way as to exaggerate her bone structure. She didn’t know for certain, but in seeing phantasms of the Emperor’s court, and the way the alien Rassmenda talked as she prepared Lacy for sacrifice, Lacy believed that the dress, jewels, and painting were meant to merge into her being, with the paint creating for her a new, horrifying, skeletal image. 

“Yes, please,” she faux-pleaded Dex, then laughed. “It’s a lovely dress, but I don’t think red’s my color anymore. And I could do without all the extra.”

Dex held a smile but was still unnerved about the circumstances of the escape. Lacy’s eyes had always been blue, but they were strikingly different now, and Dex didn’t think she had yet realized this.

She stood up to walk to the head to change, but Dex, staying seated, gave her pause. “Are you feeling all right?”

Lacy turned slightly, with a quizzical smile. “Perfect, darling.” Her starry eyes shined brightly. “Why do you ask?”

They’d escaped the Empire but the lights swirling in her eyes told him they hadn’t left it behind. These moments should have been sweet between them, and as much as Dex wanted to let them be so, his better judgment told him this should be addressed. 

“I need you to see this,” he said as he took her by the hand and walked with her into the head. “Do you see?”

They stood in front of the mirror together. Lacy leaned in and raised a hand to her face, touching the cracking paint, too distracted to notice her eyes.

“See what? Do you think I’m having a reaction to this stuff? I don’t feel irritation or anything.”

“No, I mean your eyes. Look.” Without giving her a chance to look deeply, Dex grabbed a face towel that hung next to the sink, ran it under the water, and handed it to her. “Maybe it’ll be easier to see without all that crud off your face.”

Lacy took the towel and wiped. With the paint gone, she was now able to see what Dex had been talking about. To her, it didn’t pop out as much as it had for Dex, but the stars in her eyes couldn’t be ignored. 

As she inspected the abnormality, Dex asked her again, “You sure you feel fine?”

“Yes,” Lacy said, slightly annoyed at his insistence, but still patient. “I’m sure it’s nothing, just… I don’t know. Something in the food maybe.” 

Deep down she knew that wasn’t it. As strange as this adventure had been she knew the most likely answer to this mystery had to do with whatever had been interrupted in the Emperor’s hall. The failed sacrificial ritual.

“After you shower, I want to do a scan. Just to be safe.”

Lacy nodded but didn’t say anything. Now that it was obvious to her, she only wanted to ignore it. The thought of keeping a piece of the Empire inside her disgusted her. At least with Robbie, he had no loyalty to the Emperor. But this…thing…she knew was a piece of the Emperor himself. 

Dex gave her privacy as she undressed and cleansed herself of the previous days. They both knew how precious those moments were after coming out of the field from a training event and how necessary it was to have a warm shower and soft bed all to themselves for a few minutes. This had been much more stressful than any training event.

As she showered, Dex turned his attention to the corpse in the hallway.

Robbie had been busy cleaning the blood off of the floor and struggled to comprehend why more continued to slowly leak out of Jaskek’s torn-open face. The smell of dead flesh was beginning to seep through the doors and would have to be dealt with quickly.

“Move over little guy,” Dex said as he knelt beside the robot.

Dex looked the body up and down. Their sizes weren’t far apart. Dex was slightly bulkier and an inch or two taller, but a spare imperial uniform wouldn’t be bad to have in Dex’s wall locker. Just in case. 

Robbie had also placed Jaskek’s blaster on the corpse’s chest.

Dex reached for the blaster and held it up for Robbie to see. “We don’t want to get rid of this kinda stuff, got that?”

Robbie shifted his weight to the left. “Why?”

Dex felt like he was talking to a child. “Because things are probably going to get harder from here. We have to conserve whatever gear we can. So when we find stuff like this, tools or whatever, we might need to keep it.”

“But it is not ours.”

“I don’t think he’s gonna miss it.” Dex looked down at Jaskek’s skinless face. Another small stream of blood spurted out. The shock alone must have been enough to kill the imperial officer. 

Robbie reached out to put his claws over Dex’s hands. “You should give it back. He might want it when he wakes up.”

Dex almost laughed, “Robbie, do you think he’s…”

“He might still be alive. He is still making fluids.” Blood pooled around the robot’s feet.

Although Robbie couldn’t directly show any emotion, Dex could see the look of innocence in his lenses.

“All right, how about this? We’ll drop him off as soon as possible, and if he’s somehow still alive, I’ll give him all his stuff back. Okay?”

Robbie straightened. “That is fair.”

“Now you just, um…go stand guard outside the head and make sure no one hurts Lacy.”

The robot saluted Dex and shuffled away.

“And don’t salute me!” Dex called after Robbie as the door shut between them.

With the robot gone, Dex slipped the blaster into his waistline then picked up the jarrmin box. It was still open and active from their fight. Having a strong idea of what would happen next, Dex mentally prepared himself for the horrific sight to come, and then deactivated the medical device. Jaskek’s face fell from the device, onto where it belonged on his head, though, rotated almost a full 180 degrees.

Dex wanted to vomit but knew the look of his vomit seeping into Jaskek’s bloody skull and facial muscles would only make him sicker. But that thought also made him want to vomit.

From the shower, Lacy thought she heard Dex shouting in the hall.

“Dex? You okay?” She shouted through the walls.

“Fine!” He called back, wiping the bile from the corner of his mouth. The body had to go. Fast. 

He stood back up, jarrmin box in hand, and was about to leave when he noticed another object on Jaskek’s hip. It was one of the data tablets imperial officers carried on them. Dex made a quick pass to grab it then rushed out of the room, escaping from the rank smells before a headache could overcome him.

“Is he awake yet?” Robbie asked.

Dex walked back to his seat at the console and answered Robbie without looking at him. “Not yet buddy. But I’m sure in a few hours he’ll be just fine. Get on back to the controls. I want to find somewhere to touch down before we don’t have fuel left to even land.” He followed close behind Robbie back to their seats.

The Silent Horizon’s radar wasn’t programmed to detect anything while moving faster than light speed. Dex hoped though, that with the new antenna Korr installed, they wouldn’t have any issues.

Lacy finished showering, dried herself, and dressed in her skivvies. Her P.E.S. and olive jumpsuit had been confiscated by the Empire. Save for the scarlet dress, her wardrobe wasn’t carrying many options.

“Hopefully wherever we land has a Macy’s.” She joked with Dex. “Let’s see what we’ve got,” Lacy scoured through the storage bin above their bunk. “This could be a nice outfit.” She pulled out a light blue nightgown that fell just below the knee and held it up in front of herself.

Dex spun in his chair and traced her figure with admiring eyes. “Lovely, darling. But not quite the right outfit for going out.”

Robbie turned as well and gave Lacy a once-over. “Dex is right. That won’t give you any protection in space.”

“Thank you, Robbie,” Lacy laughed, then to Dex, “It’s this, that hideous red dress, or I go out in my undergarments.”

Dex considered the dress but remembered the words of the Zar-Meck when they were first captured. The Emperor’s colors. “The nightgown should be all right.”

As if on cue, a beeping rang from the console.

Lacy draped the gown over herself and asked, “Are we coming up on something?”

“Looks like it,” Dex said, reading off of the computer. “Can’t make out any details. The ship can’t tell if it’s a planet or some floating debris.”

Lacy walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Think it’s worth it to check out?”

Dex took a deep breath and thought. “Way I see it, we’ve got three possibilities. One, it’s nothing. Not enough gas left in the tank to jump again, and we’ve burned too much to get back home off of just cruising. Dead in the water. Option two, my preferred option, it’s a habitable planet. We land safely, and start an early retirement.”

“And the third option?”

Dex opened his mouth, but it was Robbie who answered. “The Empire is very large.”

Lacy watched Dex, waiting for a response. He only shrugged in agreement.

“So do you think it’s worth it?” She pushed again.

“If it’s even a five percent chance of that early retirement, it’s one hundred percent worth it. All right crew, please ensure you are strapped in safely as we are beginning our descent.” Dex flicked some buttons on the console.

“Mind if I sit here, Robbie?” Her graceful aura made it impossible to deny any request.

“I will not be able to see if I move.”

Lacy rolled her eyes. “You can sit on my lap, how about that?”

Without waiting for a response, Lacy picked up the robot and sat down placing him on her lap like a child.

“Coming out now. Who wants to put bets down? I bet retirement.”

“I second,” said Lacy.

“I do not know what any of that means,” said Robbie.

The Silent Horizon dropped out of light speed.

“What is that?” Dex and Lacy asked.

“What is it? I cannot see.” Robbie attempted to pull himself up on the console for a better view. “Oh, that. That’s a spaceport. Private. Non-military by my data.”

“Is it safe?” Lacy asked.

“It is for me.”