Star Blaze (24 page)

“Welcome to the
Calida Lucia
, the Imperial Starcruiser. I hope she meets with your approval.” His Majesty Emperor Bram Khari stepped smiling into Johnny's field of vision. He was tall, with a mass of gray hair that seemed to slowly weave through the air of its own accord, giving off a little silvery light as it moved. Just as when they'd spoken through the Wormhole, Johnny couldn't help noticing that the Emperor's face looked far older and more lined than he remembered, though there was no dulling of Bram's piercing pale blue eyes. The Emperor of the galaxy wore a simple gray cloak, topping a pair of black trousers and boots.

“We've got to get back to Earth,” said Johnny. “The supernova …”

“I'm sure we can at least say hello first,” said Bram, smiling. “I was rather glad I caught you in time.”

“Not as glad as me,” Johnny replied.

“When you let go …” said Clara, lifting herself off and turning around so Johnny and Bram couldn't see her face.

“Can you fix Sol?” Johnny asked, anxious to change the subject and looking to the Emperor. “I did something horrid to her.”

“In time I am sure she can be healed,” Bram replied. “But right now, time is something we do not have. Your distress signal won't only have attracted the
Calida Lucia
. We must leave the Aldebaran system before drawing too much attention to our presence here. I will take you home where we can properly discuss the solar system's defenses—Clara has reiterated your desire for ships to prevent another Star Blaze. On the way back though, if I have your permission, we shall take a very slight detour.” The Emperor's eyes twinkled as he spoke. Johnny exchanged glances with his sister. Just for a moment they could relax and forget about the impending supernova, as they both wondered what treat Bram had in store for them.

The gel pods on the Imperial Starcruiser were more luxurious than any Johnny had been in before, but then the
Calida Lucia
was unlike any ship he'd traveled in. Between folds, while discussing the supernova threat, the Emperor had given them what he'd called “the grand tour.” The time Johnny had saved the dinosaurs from extinction on prehistoric Earth, he'd converted the
Spirit of London
's five-a-side football pitch into a self-contained habitat which became known as the dinodeck. Now that seemed rather feeble compared with the entire biospheres within the
Calida Lucia
's massive hold. There was a mini-ocean, populated by all manner of sea creatures; another sphere contained snow-capped mountains; there was some sort of tropical rainforest (though the strange howls from within were rather off-putting); a formal park in one contained a grove of Kanefor trees, bearers of the wonderful fruit tasting of coffee ice cream which was Johnny's favorite (but the trees would only let you pick them if you tickled them in just the right place); and, finally, you could even lie on sandy beaches around a turquoise lagoon, with triple artificial suns to keep you warm. It was here they spent the most time as Bram said he would soon be giving it away.

After several requests and refusing to take no for an answer, Johnny was finally allowed to join in with one of the
Calida Lucia
's fighter squadrons' practice drills. Although a Starfighter was nearly the same size as a shuttle, and also responded to thought control, that was where the similarities ended. He had no idea any ship could be quite so fast and maneuverable. Without the most advanced internal dampeners in the galaxy he'd have been killed instantly by the massive g-forces. By the end of the session he was buzzing and had even managed a weapon's lock on the squadron leader. It had been as
he was leaving the cargo bay that the ship announced the final fold to the Sol system and the pilots had rapidly dispersed to their gel pods.

Now the fold was over, Johnny waited while pulses of warm air dried the orange gloop off his clothes, wondering about their destination if it wasn't Earth. The door opened automatically and he stepped out, only to meet Bentley shaking out his coat, spraying Johnny's white tunic top with more of the goo. Cassiopeia's stars were lost against a messy new sky. As the sheepdog rolled over onto his back, Alf joined them in the wide corridor. Johnny was deliberately barefoot so he, like Bentley, could make the most of the lush carpet massaging his feet, just as in his old bedroom in the Imperial Palace on Melania. However, when Alf started to sponge his top, Johnny decided it was definitely time to move so announced they shouldn't be late for the meeting on the bridge. The poor android was clearly torn between not keeping the Emperor waiting while not having Johnny arrive looking messy and, as they began to walk, became a whirr of nervously waving arms.

The ship was so large it would need days to walk across it—they were taking a bullet car to the bridge and Johnny led the way to the nearest transit tube hatch, passing a couple of Viasynths as they went. A capsule was waiting for them. The smooth streamlined cars traveled in tubes that crisscrossed the length and breadth of the ship. Within these tunnels were few reference points by which to gauge your speed, but Johnny suspected it was
very
fast. After an initial surge of acceleration they sped forward for half a minute before the pointed cabin slowed and came to a smooth halt right outside the bridge.

Two soldiers from the Imperial Guard, wearing cream uniforms with four diamond-patterned stars across their chests, stood still as statues, either side of the entrance. Despite their round faces, their eyes were very close together. Johnny had to
pull Bentley away to stop him sniffing the squat, powerfully built aliens, before they passed through a force field, noticeable only for a slight tingling, and entered. He would have recognized the view anywhere. Bram and Clara were standing side by side, gazing at magnificent Saturn and its rings, with the Sun shining brightly and safely in the background. Everything was still OK.

The ship's powerful external fields prevented all the air on the bridge rushing out through a massive gap, fifty meters high, to create the spectacular viewing platform. Bentley bounded across, barking and Bram turned only just in time to ward off the Old English sheepdog who jumped up on his hind legs, placing his gloop-covered paws on the gray cloak, and attempted to lick the Emperor's face. Alf looked mortified, but Johnny knew Bram would be delighted.

Something about the planet and their position relative to it seemed familiar. “Isn't this where we found
Cheybora
after the supernova?” he asked as he and Alf followed the line of Bentley's paw prints across the bridge toward his sister and the Emperor.

“Space is creased here,” said Clara. “I can feel it—like it was folded too deeply once.”

Bram frowned, his face absolutely full of wrinkles. “It is as well others do not share your talents, Clara. This place is special—I would not wish it to be discovered.”

Johnny pictured a galactic tourist trade springing up around the thickly ringed world—it would be hard to keep all those aliens secret from Earth. “I always dreamed of seeing it from so close,” he said.

“Aha. And I wasn't even talking about these marvelous rings, as old as your solar system itself. Sadly, in time—admittedly a rather long time—they may break up and disappear. There is something else I wish to keep secret—something on Titan. Something that will last forever.” Still gazing at the view, Bram
raised his voice slightly and went on, “
Calida Lucia
—take us into orbit around the largest moon.”

Instantly the view shifted as the great ship banked, rolling over as it changed direction. Clara screamed and grabbed hold of Johnny's arm, even though the ship's gravity field was holding her as tightly as ever to the floor of the observation platform.

“Clara Mackintosh—my sensors are reading biosigns symptomatic with acute stress. I assure you that you are in no danger.” It was the ship speaking, her voice deep and rich.

“Just warn me before you do that next time,” said Clara. Her eyes were closed, but her grip on Johnny's arm began to relax.

The view righted itself as the vast ship entered orbit above a cloudy, orange globe. “You can open your eyes now,” Johnny whispered in Clara's ear, while Bram and Alf looked away pretending not to notice her discomfort.

“Alf, my old friend,” said Bram. If the android could have blushed, Johnny was sure he would have turned bright pink. “Would you do me the favor of looking after Bentley while I travel with Johnny and Clara to the surface?”

“It would be an honor, your Majesty,” replied the android, bowing his head a little, which was a mistake because it brought it within reach of Bentley's tongue. As Alf tried to extricate himself from the Old English sheepdog, the Emperor led Johnny and Clara off the bridge toward a waiting bullet car.

The Emperor had declined Clara's offer to fold them all directly to the surface and they were now in the giant bay at the heart of the
Calida Lucia
. Johnny's sister wasted no time in pointing out that he had been granted his wish to fly the overhead Starfighters, but she was never trusted to do anything. Bram's response that, “Folding may be the fastest way to travel,
but that does not mean it is always the best,” only led Clara to screw her face up so tightly Johnny thought she might explode. He did wonder if she was secretly mad at him, instead, for not telling her about Nicky sooner. They hadn't spoken about their elder brother since arriving on the Imperial Starcruiser. Miss Harutunian and Johnny's other social workers were always telling him not to bottle his feelings up and he guessed his sister's mood could be the result of exactly that.

Even though Bram didn't seem able to walk quickly, Clara was lagging behind the other two, dragging her feet on the deck. The Emperor looked so frail, close up, that he might not have wanted to fold in case the stress had finished him off—he'd even struggled to get out of the bullet car. Johnny had always known Bram was old—after all, they'd first met forty thousand years before in Atlantis—but, when it came to the Emperor, he hadn't ever thought that “old” might also mean “infirm.”

High above, row after row of Imperial Starfighters reassured Johnny that the Sun would be safe for the time being, but he knew the Emperor's personal starship couldn't stay in the solar system indefinitely. Depressingly, the
Spirit of London
looked as lifeless as ever. Bram had told Johnny that the
Calida Lucia
was a sister ship, born on the same strange moon where Johnny had helped give Sol her form. Since plucking her younger sister from the Aldebaran system, the Imperial Starcruiser had been trying to tease memories from Sol's separated mind, without reconnecting it and restarting the self-destruct sequence. The Emperor likened it to seeing into another person's dreams and trying to make sense of them without waking the sleeper, adding that very few races had such interesting dreams as humans.

As they walked past Johnny's ship, one of the giant dandelion seeds at the far end of the bay, which he now knew were shuttlecraft, lifted away from the pile, floated through the air
and settled in front of them. This would be their transport to Titan. The Emperor blew softly on the nearest of the long tips, which parted and a walkway extended toward them. It wasn't clear if it was solid or simply a force field, but it took their weight and Bram led the way, slowly hobbling up and into a central hub, from where the ship's quills were transparent. There were no visible controls, but the craft lifted into the air and floated toward the walls of the gigantic chamber. Just when it looked as if they would collide, the wall warped and opened, allowing them through. The process repeated several times until, passing through the final opening, they were clear and flying above the vast ship toward the biggest moon in the solar system.

“You know there's a human probe down there?” Johnny asked, wondering if they might be about to fly over Huygens and confuse Earth-bound scientists.