Free Starbounders by Adam Jay Epstein

Wilcox turned to the holographic display on the front window. The emergency backup lights were blinking, including a prompt that read, MIE WITH PELE 9 IMMINENT .
    â€œWhat’s an MIE?” Ryic asked.
    â€œMajor impact event,” Wilcox answered. “We’re going to crash into that planet if we can’t adjust course.”
    In the distance, Zachary saw a red-tinted planet. It was getting bigger by the second. Wilcox’s fingers were moving furiously in the air.
    â€œThe starbox isn’t responding at all,” he said. “If I’m not able to override it—”
    But he didn’t get to finish. A photon bolt hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him out cold. Zachary spun around and looked into the cabin. Only two IPDL guards were still conscious, and the pair of emaciated wolflike creatures stood menacingly over them.
    â€œTry not to eat them, Jahir,” said a hijacker that looked human, even though his skin was a little grayer and his biceps were bigger than any Zachary had ever seen. “We might need them as hostages later.”
    Jahir gnashed his teeth. “But Skold, I’m hungry.”
    Skold ignored him and headed toward the flight deck. Zachary, Ryic, and Kaylee hadn’t budged since Wilcox had been struck down. As Skold approached, Zachary noticed that his eyes moved strangely, shifting unnaturally and rarely blinking.
    â€œWe’ve got three kids in the flight deck,” Skold called back to his fellow hijackers. “Kur’tuo, get up here and watch them.”
    Skold didn’t even look at the young Starbounders-in-training. He clearly didn’t consider them a threat. His attention was on the blaring warnings on the window.
    Zachary still held the pocketknife in his ungloved hand. He knew that if he was going to defend himself and his friends, he’d have to do it now. He thrust the blade right for Skold’s rib cage, but in the same instant, the alien grabbed Zachary’s wrist and twisted, causing the knife to drop from his hand. Skold whipped his head around and glared at Zachary.
    â€œDon’t try to be the hero,” he said. “It never ends well.”
    Kur’tuo, a creature that looked like a ten-foot-tall praying mantis, squeezed through the open flight-deck door. He stopped between Skold and Zachary, lifting his powerful arm up against Zachary’s throat. Zachary could feel the serrated blades along the underside of the creature’s arm cut into his chin.
    Skold began waving his hands across the flight-deck window, trying to reactivate the starbox.
    â€œIt’s not responding,” he said.
    Kur’tuo began making clicking noises with his mandibles.
    â€œDon’t you think I tried that?” Skold snapped back.
    The warning on the window now read, MIE COUNTDOWN, 00:04:00 .
    There were less than four minutes until impact, and the seconds kept ticking away. Zachary could now see the red-tinted surface of the planet clearly.
    â€œIs that lava?” he asked.
    â€œLava is the expulsion from a volcano,” Ryic replied. “When an entire planet is composed of the molten rock, it is called magma.”
    â€œEither way, we get melted like a stick of butter,” Skold said.
    Zachary couldn’t help but think that, for an alien, Skold acted awfully human. The way he looked. The way he talked. Zachary watched as Skold jabbed his pocketknife into the metal equipment panel and pried it open. In all the chaos, Zachary hadn’t thought to use his lensicon. Until now. He centered the crosshairs on Skold and blinked twice, expecting to read LIFE-FORM , but instead he read:
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OBJECT:
HUMAN CARAPACE
    THIS ROBOTIC OUTER SHELL IS INHABITED BY AN ALIEN TO BLEND IN AS AN EARTHLING WHILE SERVING AS A TRANSLATOR, DIPLOMAT, OR SPY.
    PRESENT INTERIOR LIFE-FORM: UNKNOWN.
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    Skold was some kind of robot with an alien living inside him?
    Zachary turned back to the warning and saw that the MIE