In the past five minutes, I’d learned that my god wasn’t alone in the universe and that my nightmares were created by an evil version of myself.
I also learned that he didn’t fight fair, and how it feels
when a bullet pierces your lung.
I then quickly learned what it felt like to get shot in your
leg, hand, and shoulder. I reached out with my power tried to pull his soulfire
from him. I was too weak.
Convinced this was how I died, I prepared to explode. I
could at least take this jerk out with me.
Walking towards me, he smirked again. His sword touched my neck and he said, “You don’t have to die today. I could burn out Sol’s influence and give you a new life with a real god. Denebola is merciful and gives his emissaries gifts beyond your imagination.”
“Your god has more than one emissary?” I asked, coughing up blood.
“Millions!” he replied. I coughed and thought of the implications of having an army of me.
I shuddered at the thought and hoped Sol had some sort of
trick to save me. “Phoenix!” I said into the com I’d been keeping open. I also
hoped that my crew were listening.
The ship turned itself on and I heard the hum of the engines
and suddenly we were in subspace.
Without a fantastic targeting computer, a prophet, or a Precog, you’re just as likely to appear inside a sun as you are to get to your destination. Space is vast and filled with a lot of nothing, but space drives are like tiny pieces of metal and suns are like giant magnets. The reason we don’t go much past our solar system isn’t a lack of power, it’s a lack of ability to calculate where to come out. Even a Precog can make a mistake. A short jump will land you dangerously close to a planet. A long one will almost always land you inside a star.
That’s exactly what happened to the Robinson. My crew lobbed it at the sun. Like throwing a marble down a funnel, we appeared in the middle.
There was a split second when we came out of subspace that
the other man scowled and then we were completely engulfed in fire.
I thought I was going to die, but as the ship around me vaporised, I started to heal. All around me was wonderful warmth and love. I could see the beautiful colours of the sun that should have blinded and killed me. It was all wonderful. Of course I was naked again, but I still had the sword.
Unfortunately, so did the other guy. “You knew we could survive inside a sun?” he asked and his words were in my head; they felt slimy.
“Nope,” I replied.
His face fell and looked at me in wonder. It was the first
time I saw on his face what I had seen with my power. He was dying. The power
was eating him alive. “You are either a fool or you are more powerful than we
thought possible.”
“As epic as sword fighting another prophet inside a sun
sounds, I don’t like sword fighting naked.”
He laughed and he looked me in the eyes. It was like being hit by a small planet. Our minds locked and I saw a battle that was ancient, and made us seem pitifully small. I saw the stars themselves fighting and the destruction it caused. I saw Sol trying to save sentience while the others tried to enslave it. Then I saw flashes of what was going to happen, what had happened, and what was happening now. In essence, I saw everything and it gave me a headache.
We were no longer fighting as ourselves. We were conduits
for the fight between Sol and Denebola.
When it was all over, I knew Sol had won. I hoped I’d helped somehow. The other prophet had the bad form to smirk as he turned back into stardust.
I have no idea how to explain it, but I felt pride from Sol. He was proud of me. The feeling was quickly replaced by a series of visions.
When the visions cleared, I was kneeling in the centre of my ship’s bridge, sword in hand, and still completely naked. Even with the serum, I was weak and needed a little time to recover.
I felt hands gently place a robe over my shoulders and
looked up at Suzie. I imagined a million things to say and instead asked, “May
I?”
She grabbed the scruff of my hair and pulled me into a kiss. When the kiss ended and the jeering from the rest of the crew stopped, I said, “We have funerals to prepare for and family to notify. How’s Travis?”
“I’m fine. Tougher than I look.” He looked pale and sick, but he had both legs and was conscious so the doc must have done something right.
“Great. We’ll start with Teddy’s parents on Venus.” I hadn’t
been back since I was excommunicated and had caused a civil war. “While we’re
there, we’ll have to save the Venusian royal family.” Everyone looked at me
disbelieving. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”
They all laughed. It was a wonderful sound and I appreciated it. Things were about to get a lot worse. I had seen the ships coming, each with a crew of nightmare creatures and prophets. Worst of all, their sheer numbers meant they wouldn’t fit in our solar system. We were outnumbered by so many I didn’t know what to call the the number.
Read More Stories
Sun Speaker
In the distant future humanity has spread to the other planets in our solar system. These stories follow Hal (a prophet for a godlike entity that lives in the sun), and his friends, as they try to make the solar system a better place.
Hal The Sun Speaker
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
The Assassin
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Gladiators in SPACE!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Ghost Ship Robinson
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7
