A tiny sliver of stone burned through the void, against a backdrop of ten stars in a perfect circur formation. The sliver was propelled on a tower of fme, leaving the event horizon of the bck hole which the ten stars orbited. Nine of those stars burned a bright yellow, each surrounded by a massive ring. The tenth was a dense colpsed star, only visible on instruments, surrounded by a nebu and a broken ring. The sliver angled itself towards the nebu, leaving the crushing gravity of the bck hole’s event horizon.
Inside the needle, Sed checked his ship’s instruments. The dispy, projected in the air like a phantom of information, showed dozens of cracks in the superstructure and damage to the wormdrive that only a Stoneburner could fix. The strain of escape had stressed it beyond what even the great Stoneburners had designed it for, and he was alive only by a miracle of chance. Whether any of them or his own people still survived, he needed to find out.
To him and his ship, only a dozen sun seasons had passed; to the outside universe, hundreds of thousands. The Eye itself looked little different now that he was out of its event horizon. Before Sed had been stranded in time and space, that white dwarf had been yellow and the ring whole. That shattered ring might have been his reason for escape, a fortunate weak link that broke the gate before he could be taken. He could see no other ships leaving as he did, and he hadn’t seen any during his long eons of imprisonment.
Sed began scanning frequencies. He needed to find a pce to repair. His ship, though rge enough for a dozen crew, was manned by him alone, automated heavily through the technology of the ancients. The systems that had kept him alive in the infinite press of a bck hole, the weapons that allowed him hope in a new era, the engines which defied all logic - all a marvel of ancient Stoneburner technology, a species mostly or perhaps now completely extinct from the universe.
Suddenly, the comms picked something up, very faintly, for just a moment. Then again, for a breath. A single signal broadcast on his people’s emergency frequency, far out past the dead star, a beacon of hope. He might not quite be alone. Though his wormdrive was non-functional, his realspace drives were still operational, hopefully enough to make it.
“Spire of Hope, can you make anything out or clean up the frequency? Not even I can pick this out.”
“I’m sorry, Warden. The signal is entirely too degraded at this range. Very low-powered satellite. Once we’re in range I will notify you.”
“Thank you, Spire.”
Sed left the console with the course plotted and left the control cabin, headed for his chambers. The ship itself looked and felt like polished marble inside, with warm floors and ambient lighting that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Sed’s stone-like feet sounded heavy in the quiet halls of his ship, a rhythmic thumping to the timing of his heart. His quarters were sparse - a shelf-like bed made of the same material as the interior of his ship, a few dim holos of his family, now mostly long dead or trapped, and the single stasis pod in the corner. His room had slight cracks in the exterior walls, but no air leaked out, an automatic force field securing the ship while it repaired what it could of the outer hull itself through material siphoned from the cosmic dust in his travel.
Sed walked up to the stasis pod. Inside was a small translucent form, that of a child who had not yet grown their crust. A child of silicon, his young daughter. A child who might have died in the crushing gravity of the bck hole, a child now stranded in a time not their own, in a pce hostile to their species. The two of them were adrift in the eons, their ship a lifeboat in time. She would need the proper environment to complete her growth which might not even exist.
His resolve hardened. If it didn’t exist now, he would make it exist. She would thrive beyond his years, into the centuries, and he didn’t know what he would do if she didn’t.
He let her sleep, nestled in the pod for when he arrived wherever the beacon was leading him. Lying against the sb which constituted his bed, he drifted asleep, dreaming of his birthpce under the sands of his homeworld.
On the Starlight Beacon Valeria chased her best friend Kraddix through the twisting streets, the surface springy but resilient. The buildings around them were tall and gleaming, with a golden sheen to them, marred by the occasional missing panel or dull patch from centuries of looting and recent repairs. Kraddix ducked behind the small library building on a side street and she chased him around the corner. He tackled her, enfolding her in his four furry arms as they rolled together on the street surface. They y there, panting, staring up at the starscape above them through the station’s dome, and Valeria ughed a hearty ugh. She ruffled Kraddix’s turquoise head fur.
Kraddix excimed, “That was quite the chase!”
Kraddix smiled a grin that nearly split his face in half, revealing sharp teeth that might intimidate anyone not familiar with his gentle nature.
“I can never escape you for long, Val, humans are too quick!”
Valeria ughed again as people stepped around them. Val stood up and held out her hand. Kraddix grasped it with two hands as she leaned backwards, hauling him up. It was safe to py and walk in this station’s streets; no vehicles were allowed inside the city atop the Starlight Beacon, though there wasn’t much need for them anyway. The city itself was small, easily walkable, and lifts accessed the rest of the station.
“Come on, Dad has a surprise for the festival.”
The two of them walked down the street, towards the small house in the midst of a farm field that was Valeria’s home, on the outskirts of the city but within easy walking distance. The farm and others like it under the dome supplied grains, fruits, and vegetables for the city, grown using light directed from the reactor to simute a star. Valeria skipped lightly and Kraddix plodded solidly beside her. He had never been able to skip like her, his four arms making him a bit top-heavy for the task. The clean streets were scattered with people going about their day, and the light noise of conversation drifted upon the air.
Kraddix asked, “So what’s your dad have pnned for the festival?”
Valeria swatted him on the arm gently.
“You know I can’t spoil the surprise! Maybe it’ll be ready when we arrive.”
The ground was level for the most part, though the fields tended to be less so owing to the presence of soil and the movement of dirt when farming, and it was an easy walk to get to the farmhouse through golden fields of grain, stalks of corn, and a multitude of other vegetables that her father was famous for growing. The farmhouse in the middle of the fields was a simple elongated brown and white box on short stilts, with a big synth-wood deck attached to the front and a small arched roof built on top. It had been painted to look like a more traditional farmhouse from some Old Terra stories passed down from before the Cataclysm.
As Val and Kraddix walked up to the farmhouse via the wide gravel path leading to it, they could see the small orchard of citrus and apple trees growing behind the house, just a few of each for some fresh fruit and cooking. Her father was working in the yard beside the house on one of their hover sleds, an old machine that would carry their goods into the city regurly as the crops were harvested. Ver Green, Val’s father, turned to greet them.
“My daughter! Kraddix! Come to see the surprise, have you?”
The two of them nodded simultaneously. Her father led them to the small garage beside the house, where inside was what appeared to be a uncher of some sort, replete with a box full of multicoloured cylinders.
“What’s THAT?!” Val said, staring with her mouth slightly open. Kraddix moved closer, looking at the device and the packages.
“Don’t get too close now,” her father said, “those are a bit dangerous if handled improperly.”
Val approached a bit, inspecting the uncher and the tubes without touching them.
“Fireworks?”
Kraddix looked at Val with delight in his eyes.
“Are they, Mr. Green?”
“Sure are, kiddo. They’re safe in their inert state, and these ones are remote operated and self-guiding, so they’re not terribly dangerous. Real pretty, though.”
“Wow,” they both said. Val looked up at her dad.
“Is mom going to be back in time for the fireworks?”
“Yeah, she’s supposed to be back this afternoon after the run over to Maka City over on Shedrin. Shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”“Awesome! Need any help?”
Her father waved a hand and said, “Go py! Enjoy yourselves. I’ll load this up and we’ll head to the city in about an hour.”
When it came time for the festival’s opening night, the simuted sun above the city winked out, and the stars shone in the sky outside the dome covering the city and the fields. The city lights went out and the small popution of the station gathered in the rge square in the center of the city. Val was there with her dad and the cart with the fireworks, but hadn’t seen any sign of her mom yet. Lights came up on the stage, and the city council stood up on the stage.
“We welcome you tonight to our yearly Festival of Founding,” said the council’s representative, “where we celebrate the founding of our little community here on the Starlight Beacon, after years of trying to find a home for our little collective. I’m gd you could all make it, and I see we have a few guests from Shedrin and Zessika Ring here. A warm welcome to you, we hope you have a delightful stay in our city and a wonderful time at the festival. Now, enjoy yourselves!”
Lights came up on the small stalls along the sides of the main square, showing a variety of handmade goods and foods of all kinds, for a variety of internal chemistries. Val had never seen so much variety before, though she’d heard that the Beacon had been having a great harvest so far this year. Her father beamed proudly, as many people’s delicious food had been grown on his very farm or one just like it. Suddenly, a pair of hands covered her eyes, and a voice whispered in her ear.
“Guess who.”
“MOM!”
Val spun around and gave her mom the biggest hug she could muster. Her mom giggled and hugged her tight, her face beaming, Val’s beaming in return.
“When did you get back? How was your trip? What did you get? Meet any cool people?”
Her mom ughed and ruffled her hair a bit.
“My lovely daughter, give me a moment and I will answer all your questions. First I must greet your father properly.”
Val’s mother and father embraced in a tight hug, something they did no matter how long they were apart. They kissed, at which point Val turned away, a little embarrassed. She loved her parents, but the sight of them kissing was something she did not want to see. She felt her mom’s hand on her head, who ruffled her hair again. Her mom knelt down in front of her.
“Here, darling, I brought this back for you,” her mother said.
Val hugged her mom tight around the neck and then looked at the thing her mom had given her. It was a little target pistol and holster, completely non-lethal, barely enough to warm an ant, but enough to practice her aim and handling. It looked very simir to her mom’s sidearm, just fit for her smaller hands.
“Thanks mom!”
“You’re welcome, dear. Shall we enjoy the festival?”
Val walked with her mom and dad around the festival, sampling all the delights meant for humans for the next hour or so, until it came time for the reveal of the big surprise of the evening. When it was time for the fireworks, the city council asked everyone to congregate in the square. She went with her dad and mom over to the back of the square, where an area had been fenced off with the uncher and fireworks. Her father stood back with a small handheld compad. She watched him enter a sequence into it and the uncher moved, aiming a precise trajectory. He leaned towards her, stage-whispering conspiratorially.
“Ready, Val?”
“You betcha!”
Her dad hit the button, and the first cylinder unched with a thunk into the space above the city, exploding in a shower of colours, a dispy she’d heard of but never seen in her young life. A second one unched, and then a third, in a blitz of colour and a variety of patterns. She stood, mouth open, amazed. Kraddix found her and stood beside her, looking up with her as she put her arm around her furry friend. They marveled at the array of explosive brilliance above them.
Suddenly the crowd felt more than heard a boom, the artificial sun brightened and an emergency arm bred. A message sounded, rotating through nguages.
“The Starlight Beacon is encountering some technical difficulties. Please remain calm. Head to your shelter and await the all-clear signal.”
“Val, take Kraddix and head to the ship. Your mom will go with you.”
He turned to her mother.
“Darling, take Val and Kraddix, prep the ship for unch. I will join you shortly after finding out what’s going on.”
“Find us when you’re done in docking bay seven. I’ll see you soon, my love.”
Her parents kissed briefly and then they ran.
The ship, called Falda’s Grace, was a good 225 meters in length, including its engines, and it looked as graceful as a swan in the docking bay. The ship had a round body with atmospheric wings folded along its sides, with a graceful curve on the front of the ship up to the bridge, where a pair of crew members could distantly be seen with their hands in the air. Some kind of humanoid that Val had never seen before appeared to have them cornered, and a needle-like ship in the docking bay was surrounded by armed people in body armour.
Val, Kraddix, and her mother hid behind some crates towards the entry of the docking bay. She opened one of the crates, which was empty.
Her mother readied her pistol.
“Val, Kraddix, stay here. I’ll come back and get you when it’s safe. Stay in the crate and don’t make a sound.”
They got into the crate, and closed the lid to just a sliver.
Fallyn crouched behind the crates and peeked at the enemy forces. A half-dozen stood by the needle ship, with at least two more visible in her ship’s bridge. Potentially more inside. She’d have to figure out where her crew was, and then try to get her ship out of the hangar. The needle ship they were guarding looked like nothing she’d ever seen before, and neither did any of the troopers guarding it.She spoke into her subdermal communicator.
“To those who can read me on the emergency network; there is an invasion force in docking bay seven. I read eight intruders so far, and my ship is captured. Val and Kraddix are safe, for now.”
“I’m on my way my love, with Kraddix’s mother and Elgan. Stay put.”
Fallyn smiled at her husband. She loved him, but the both of them knew she would not stay put. Not when her crew was threatened. She held her pistol up and crab-walked around the crates until she could look at the cockpit of the ship. She signaled the comms of the ship and watched the enemy soldiers gesture for her crewmates to pick up.
“Y-yes, this is Eara, of the Falda’s Grace, h-how m-m-m-may I be of assistance?”
Fallyn smiled in sympathy, Eara was fairly new to the crew and hadn’t been through anything like this.
“Get the ship prepared for unch, I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
“Yes, Captain…”
Fallyn watched the soldiers guarding the needle, and dodged towards her ship’s ramp when they turned away from the crates. She dodged behind the side of the ramp, holding herself close to the support struts. Taking a peek around the strut, she waited until the soldiers had turned around. Cmbering atop the ramp, she crept inside. The cargo bay was half-full of crates, with a soldier rummaging through them. Fallyn crept up behind him and put her pistol against the back of his jaw, angled upward. She wrapped an arm around his neck, breathing softly into his ear.
“Don’t move, don’t make a sound unless I say. Now, very quietly, where is the rest of my crew?”
“Aft quarters. We have them there under heavy guard. You’ll never free them,” he said, his voice sounding like gravel.
“Just watch me.”
She pistol-whipped him. Or tried to, anyway. The butt of her pistol bounced off his rocky armour and he chuckled, low. She tightened her arm around his neck.
“You don’t even know where we’re weak, do you? You can’t even hurt us like that. You’re a fool. You’ll never get out of here.”
With that, the soldier cmped his hands on her arm and bent forward, lifting her off her feet in an attempt to throw her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling back hard on his neck. She’d been in a few brawls before. He was strong, but she had a fair amount of experience. She squeezed, hard, his skin only moving very slightly. He elbowed her in the ribs, but the awkward position made it difficult to him to get leverage. She put the gun against his head and pressed the trigger. The noise was muffled, and he colpsed forward, limp, falling over as she rode him down.
Fallyn unwrapped her legs and arm from around the soldier as he went down and stood up. She holstered her pistol and grabbed his arms, but she couldn’t drag him. He was simply too heavy. So she ducked behind the crates in the cargo bay and waited for a minute to see if anyone would show up. In a few minutes, another one of the soldiers walked into the cargo bay. They looked at the corpse and shouted something with the voice of a rockslide.
Several troops ran into the cargo bay and Fallyn slipped out, heading towards the crew quarters. She took one of the side passages before jumping into a small access crawlspace. Looking down into the crew quarters, she could see most of her crew trapped in one of the cabins, bound and muzzled. She crawled forward, as quiet as possible, before opening the hatch on the side of the roof that would allow her to drop down in front of the cabin holding her crew.
Fallyn pulled out a mirror she often used to touch up her makeup and used it to take a peek around the corridor. She could see one guard in front of the door and nobody else yet, so she hoped she could take the guard out quietly. She poked her head out and looked around. Only one guard was actually present. Excellent.
She grabbed the edge of the crawlspace and shimmied out quietly, then grabbed one of the handholds on the roof and pulled herself out before dropping on the shoulders of the guard, wrapping her thighs around his neck and squeezing as hard as she possibly could. When he opened his mouth to yell she stuffed a greasy cloth in it and then wrapped his whole head in a bag she had grabbed out of the cargo bay. He never made more than a sp against the bulkhead and a gasp before he colpsed, hopefully unconscious but not dead.
Grabbing the encoder from his belt, she tapped it against the access panel. The door slid open with a soft shhh-k and she entered. The moment her crew saw her, they calmed and let her unbind them. She first went to the android Aeneas-17, and freed his hands. The android then grabbed the soldier and dragged it inside, before transforming a part of his right hand into a cutting implement and freeing the rest of the crew alongside with the captain.
Fallyn nodded once they were all free.
“So, you’ve seen these soldiers. Fighting them is tough, they have a very thick hide. Ver is on his way with some reinforcements, and most of the soldiers should be in the cargo bay. How’s the weapon situation looking?”
"Captain, the only weapons currently with us are yours. As I am forbidden from harming organic beings, I am unable to fight,” Aeneas-17 said.
“Ok, we’re going to make our way to the armory. Hopefully we won’t encounter any more of these rock people,” Fallyn said.
The crew left the bunk and Fallyn used the encoder to lock the bunk door behind them. Aeneas boosted each crew member up into the maintenance crawlspace and closed the hatch behind him, then the crew crawled through to a hatch that exited near the armory. Fallyn used her mirror to check around the corner. Two guards stood next to the armory door.
Fallyn drew her pistol. Kaysa, the ship’s cook, readied a monoknife she generally used for butchery, which she had retrieved from her quarters. Aeneas removed his left hand and put it on the wall. It skittered on its own to the roof and across the hall, dropping down in a corner. The loud thump of the hand caught the attention of the guards.
“You go check it out,” the guard to the left of the door said. The right guard walked over to the hand while the left watched on. He didn’t see
Kaysa until it was too te, monoknife in his throat making a soft gurgle as he slumped against the bulkhead and slid down. The st guard whipped his head around and shouted before Fallyn jammed her pistol into his eye and shot.
“Quickly,” Fallyn said, “get into the armory and arm yourselves. We’re going to retake the ship.”
Val peeked out of the crate just as her father rounded the corner, crab-walking to her to keep out of sight. He was followed by two others from the city, outfit with basic small arms, including Kraddix’s mom. She opened the crate a crack. Kraddix waved at his mom, and she waved back, a rifle in her lower precision arms.
“Dad,” Val whispered, “mom’s on the ship. There’s these weird rock guys on the ship and they nded on that weird pointy ship over there.”
Ver Green, Val’s dad, pointed a small camera on a stick at the ships and the hangar.
“I can see four soldiers by their ship and what looks like two in the cockpit of Falda’s Grace,” Ver said. “We’re going to have to try to take them out with what we have here, and hope that my wife can take control of her ship. Fen and Elgan, go see if you can fnk those soldiers by the ship. I’ll go check on the Grace. Don’t worry kiddo, your mom will help me if I get into trouble.”
Val’s father pat her on the head and sat there for a moment, before loud noise reverberated from the other side of the strange enemy ship. Her father, hearing the cue, crouch-walked towards the ship. Val snuck outside of the crate to watch her father in action. He leapt up from the ramp of the ship to the cargo bay, light on his feet for such a rge man. She heard a scuffle, then one of the rock men tumbled out of the ship.
Her dad peeked out of the nding ramp, gave a quick thumbs up, when he was suddenly struck and knocked over.
Val gasped, watching her father fight for his life. She looked for something hard she could use, and found a length of pipe peeking out of one of the crates. Despite it being heavy for her size, she grabbed it and ran at the rock man. She had to do something. She hit the rock man over the head, and he ughed, batting the pipe aside when she went for another swing.
“Val! Get out of here,” her father shouted at her with a pained voice, face a mask of blood.
Val went in for another swing, and the guard grabbed the pipe, pulling it from her grasp. The guard smiled wickedly. Kraddix leaped at the guard but was batted aside as easily as she had been.
“You’re going to watch him die and there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said, in a voice of tumbling boulders.
Val screamed and jumped on the guard’s back but he ignored her and swung, hard. She could see teeth fly from over his shoulder. Digging at his eyes, Val let out anguished cries. She felt an elbow in her stomach, and she couldn’t breathe any longer, falling off his back.
“You’re going to regret that,” the guard said, standing up and turning toward her, pipe in hand.
Val’s father looked at her and tried to speak, but only gurgling blood came out. He weakly aimed his pistol and fired, hitting the guard’s leg and causing him to stumble. He waved at her, and Val knew he meant she had to go, now. So she did. She ran, as fast as she could, heaving great breaths. Kraddix ran beside her, with the rock man chasing them with a pronounced limp.
Fallyn peeked around the bridge hatch, seeing two guards on her two crew that remained under their custody. She motioned Becan, the ship’s gunner, to shoot the right guard, she’d shoot the left. They both shot at the same time, the two guards dropping to the deck limp. Eara sighed with relief and Owyn waved at the captain.
“Cap! I knew you’d rescue us soon as I heard your voice,” Owyn said cheerfully, though clearly a bit shaken.
Looking around at the crew, Fallyn smiled. She gathered the whole crew together in a huddle and beamed. They’d all worked together well in a crisis.
“Ok, time to get these scum off my ship.”
Aeneas grabbed one of the enemy soldiers with Owyn and Becan grabbing the other one. They all heaved and carried them towards the cargo bay, with Fallyn leading the way. Just as the group reached the cargo bay, Fallyn let out a gasp. One of the soldiers was limp on the ground, and so was her husband. He wasn’t moving, and his face was bloody.
Fallyn sprinted towards him, falling at his side. She cradled his head in her p, ignoring the battle still going on around the needle ship. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing. She stroked his face, barely able to see him through the tears.
“Wake up, Ver. Please wake up. You can’t die now, we’ve won. We won! Everyone is safe, and that includes you. Wake up, dammit!”
Ver Green didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t make a sound. No matter how Fallyn sobbed, no matter how she pounded on his chest.
Val heard her mother’s sobbing and turned around, only to see the rock man still chasing them. Knowing her mom wouldn’t have left the ship without freeing her crew, Val grabbed Kraddix’s hand and ran through another open hangar door, leading the guard in a circle back towards the ship. She saw her mom sobbing, some of the crew peeling off to fight the other soldiers, some staying to guard their captain.
“Mom,” Val yelled, and her mother looked up, face stained with tears.
Fallyn’s face contorted with rage as she saw the soldier chasing her daughter, and she lifted her pistol, Ver’s head still in her p. She fired, first shot going wide with her vision blurry from tears. She wiped her eyes and her next shot didn’t miss. She heard the thump of his body hitting the floor.
Val and Kraddix ran up to her, hugging her at her sides.
“Dad, is he…” Val asked.
“He’s gone, Val,” Fallyn said, breaking down into tears again. She hugged her daughter tighter, Kraddix hugging them both, and they cried over their loss.
Nobody knew why the soldiers had attacked, but they had been chased off, most of them dead from Fallyn’s rescue of her crew. The soldier captive in the Falda’s crew quarters had committed suicide rather than be interrogated, so now they had no information. The aftermath was… a lot for Val to go through. She cried randomly over the next few days as she and her mother went through the house, packing things up for another family to take over. She took a few physical pictures to keep with her in the ship, and her father’s favourite album, Adore the Cat’s Purr Along Home, Kitty Cat. The funeral was held that week. Most of the city came, as her father had been well known for his gentle kindness and willingness to help everyone.
With her father gone, she left with her mother for a life on the ship, saying goodbye to Kraddix with a promise to keep in touch, though both knew it might only be sporadic given how her mother traveled.
With a wave to everyone from the bridge of the Falda’s Grace, Val and her mother left the Starlight Beacon behind. They would find answers.
