like this.”
“No, you may not…But, youngling, I’m not going to fuss over you—I expect you to work hard.”
“I can do my fair share of work.”
Gwog finished off his drink. “Are you ready to go?”
“I wasn’t sure when you’d be here, sir, so I have some things packed. But I still have a little more to do.”
“Well, youngling, let’s get your things, I want to break orbit by sundown.”
“Yes, sir!” Dar chugged down the last of his float. “Can we come back here so I can say good-bye to mother?”
“Of course.”
Garnic stood with a sad expression on his face. “I’m going to miss you, best friend.”
Dar held his hand out. “I’ll miss you too, best friend.”
“Promise you’ll come visit?” He took Dar’s hand.
“Every chance I get.” Dar grabbed him and turned it into a hug. Perhaps that wasn’t the best thing to do in front of Gwog, hugging was a youngling thing, and now he was an adult and expected to act like one.
As he slid his grasp from Garnic, Dar looked at Gwog. “The house is at the end of the street; just a few minutes’ walk.”
“Let’s go then. We still have a shuttle ride to make.” Gwog opened the door and ushered Dar out. When they were outside, and away from Garnic and Denrika, he put his hand on Dar’s shoulder. “You know space is dangerous?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you still want to go?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m not going to coddle or fuss over you like a youngling. I expect you to work. If you don’t, I’ll drop you back to your mother on my next trip through.”
Dar squared his shoulders. “I’m not afraid of work.”
“All right, then, let’s get your things and get going.”
4
Dar’s heart pounded, his throat went dry, and he shook nervously. He was in space. The good-byes to his mother and Garnic were bitter sweet. He hoped he could come home in a few months and see them. But space life tended to be busy; Gwog took jobs all over the galaxy, and Dar knew he’d be away for quite some time. He felt confident they would be all right.
The small shuttle approached the stern of the Cunik. Dar pressed his face against the glass in the back compartment trying to take in every ounce of the spectacle. He was so excited he felt ill. His stomach churned, and nervous prickles shot through his body. In a few minutes he’d be standing inside his new home.
“Youngling?” Gwog called.
“Yes, sir?”
“Come up here.”
Dar took the few steps forward to the cockpit compartment. “Yes, sir?”
“Take a seat.” Gwog gestured to the empty co-pilot seat.
He kept his eyes focused out the window, the freighter loomed even closer. Carefully, he slid into the seat. “Wow.”
“Now, take your hands and rest them lightly on the helm.”
“Yes, sir.” Dar did as instructed.
“As part of my crew, you’ll learn everything you can about the Cunik, the shuttles, weapons, and cargo handling equipment.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your mother said you did well in astro-physics.”
“Yes, sir, I had the highest grades in the class,” Dar replied.
“Good, good. Then I’m sure you’re familiar with mapping and charting.”
“They taught us some; most of it was terrestrial mapping.”
Gwog made a slight adjustment in course. “Space isn’t much different—there’s just another dimension to worry about.”
“The Y axis, right? The third dimension.”
“Correct. Although the Ontarrin galaxy is more of a spiral galaxy, and the concentric rings hold all the planets, you do have a variation in those rings where the planets actually lie…And you need to know where all the drifting meteor and asteroid belts are.”
“Ah, yes, I suppose those would be rather dangerous,” he said, still holding his gaze out the window.
“So, what do you know of our galaxy?”
Dar felt his breath catch in his throat. He knew as much as school taught, and what research he’d done on his own, but now he was addressing someone who lived and worked daily in the places he’d only read and fantasized about. “Uh, well, I know the galaxy is made up of twenty-four rings, starting with the inner most Alpha sector, which contains the Ontarrin sun and Carfidius, the tar planet.”
“Yes, go on.”
“And it ‘ends’ about seventy-six thousand light years away with Regalein 9 and Omerik in the Omega sector…From one side of the Omega sector to the other is one hundred and fifty-two thousand light years—give or take.”
Gwog glanced over at Dar. “And how many planets?”
“Umm, excluding the sun, forty-one, sir.”
“Good.” He lined the shuttle up on the approach lights. “And you know the galaxy is roughly divided in half?”
“Yes, sir. Although I’m not sure why they got the names they have—didn’t really elaborate on that in school.”
Gwog slowed the shuttle as it entered the containment field. “The names are rather misleading. The ‘light side’ of the galaxy contains many of the supposedly ‘first settled’ planets. Travelers from other galaxies arrived and set up housekeeping. Once established, they went forth and explored the ‘dark side’ of the galaxy—where they encountered species that weren’t always so friendly to their explorations.”
“But planets like Viguris and Gardinis are on the dark side, and they’re supposed to be extremely peaceful.”
“See? It really doesn’t make sense. But after the intergalactic war was over, a ‘line’ was drawn, and the two halves got those names…It does divide the galaxy into trade regions, though.” He landed the shuttle and turned off the engine. “Welcome to your new home.”
Dar peered out the front window. They were in a grand expanse of a bay. Three other shuttles of varying size were parked to one side. Ahead, the crew of the Cunik stood awaiting them. Never in his life had he seem such a hodge-podge of aliens. They were dressed in varying shades of black and brown Catarin hide clothes. Most he didn’t even recognize as a particular species—except one: he had a shock of green hair atop his tall, slender build. The remainder of the hair on his head was white from age. Dar had never seen a Satiren that old.
“That’s Jartis, he’s my engineer,” Gwog said, knowing Dar would have taken notice. “He’s half Satiren, half Priddin.” He eased himself out of the pilot’s seat. “Come on.” Going to the back, he opened the door, and let down the short gangplank. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew.” They went around and stopped in front of the motley batch of aliens. “Everyone, this is Dar. He’s going to be a new crew member…Treat him with respect, as you would like to be treated.”
“Greetings, Dar,” Jartis said, he stood first in line. “Half Satiren and what?”
“Uh, Earthling,” Dar replied softly. There were hushed comments amongst the others.
“Earthling?”
“Yes, sir. My father came to this galaxy by a worm hole.”
Jartis scratched his head. “By accident?”
“Yes.”
He offered his hand. “Welcome to our crew, youngling.”
Dar took his hand. “Thank you.”
Gwog gave Dar a little bump. “Next to him is Rokit, assistant engineer.”
He regarded the interesting looking alien standing in front of him. Rokit stood about 6 feet tall, was basically humanoid looking with the exception of his huge ears. “Umm, are you a Gundin Tree Dweller?” he asked.
Rokit chuckled. “Yes, I am…I’m one of the few purebreds on the ship.”
Gwog pointed. “And next to him is Wenin, cargo engineer…He’s half Vigurian Clapsor, half Lanterian…Then we have Barnig, assistant cargo engineer. He’s half Appolonian, half Zumikkian.” He nudged Dar down the line. “And here’s Tregis, he’s chief navigator.”
Tregis held out his hand. “He
llo, Dar, nice to meet you.”
“A…pleasure,” Dar said awkwardly, reaching up to take his hand. Tregis stood probably 7 feet tall, had dark brown skin, a long neck, arms, and legs, large blue eyes, and pale orange hair. He was indeed a strange looking alien.
“Then there’s Vikkis, assistant navigator. You’ll be working with him a lot,” Gwog said. “He’s part Thokin, part Brudin Halgar…Don’t let his teeth scare you, he’s actually a rather nice fellow.”
Vikkis smiled, showing pointed, razor-sharp teeth. “Hello, Dar.”
“Hi,” he replied. A few years ago, he’d met a couple Thokin Elemenels and took a liking to them. Their creamy blue skin and fleshy tendrils hanging from their heads like hair intrigued him. Vikkis seemed to have most of the Thokin features, except for the teeth.
Gwog continued down the line. “Next to Vikkis is Julaton. He’s half Bodnarian, half Uyoninain—one of my deck hands…Then we have Putchic, another deck hand. Half Kiburgin, half Sirrixian.” He leaned down to Dar’s ear and whispered: “Don’t mess with him, short temper.”
Dar nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Next to him, we have the twins: Ethoic and Pthoic. They’re part Flokinian and Coreonin…Ever see anything like them?” He gestured to the brothers who stood about 6 feet tall. They had shiny dark gray skin, black eyes, spinal and brow ridges, long sharp teeth and sharp claws. Although they stood upright, they more resembled a species of sand lizard Dar used to catch on Erotis.
“No, sir.”
“They haven’t been with me long, but they’re good workers; and awfully nice despite their imposing looks.” He stepped in front of the last two. Here’s Karnis, and his son Xetroiss. They’re purebred Tempricians. Karnis is head cook, Xetroiss is