Free Lost Planet 01 - The Lost Planet by Rachel Searles Page B

vehicle. He can’t be from the Fleet, because even though they call it the Federal Fleet, it’s pretty much run by Earth and only Earthans are allowed to be soldiers. He’s probably a smuggler.”
    So not only were they stranded and homeless, but they were probably ferrying a criminal around in the cargo hold. Things just kept getting better. “How do you know he’s Lyolian?” Chase asked.
    â€œBecause he looks like one!” Parker exploded. He began rapidly typing information onto one of the screens. “I’m just going to plot a small fold to test it out. I’ll try to move us over to the next star system.” Parker’s finger hovered over a button on the screen. “Better buckle in.”
    â€œDon’t, Parker.” Chase tried to move his finger away from the button. “Let’s wait one more—”
    â€œDon’t tell me what to do,” Parker snapped, and pressed his finger against the screen.
    Chase was slightly more prepared this time, and so he fully experienced the fold. There was a strong jolt, and he felt as if his head were being sucked backward and his body being compressed. A bright flash filled his vision. He blinked a few times, feeling almost like he had blacked out for a moment. Strange, dark shapes filled their front window, but before Chase could figure out what they were, their ship shook with a loud bang! Something had hit the side of their cruiser. It hit again. Bang!
    â€œIt’s some kind of debris field!” Parker grabbed the manual controls and spun the cruiser around.
    â€œOh, this is much better than where we were!” shouted Chase. “Look out!”
    A massive rock appeared right in front of them, and Parker pulled up hard on the yoke. Something else struck the roof of the cruiser with a painfully loud crunch. He fought with the controls, wheeling the ship back in the other direction. A long metallic squeal rang out, echoing throughout the vehicle as their port side dragged along another giant cosmic boulder.
    â€œOh lords,” Parker choked out. “I think … did we puncture…?”
    A zipping noise sounded behind them as the door to the bunkroom opened. Chase whirled around in his seat. The young man staggered through the doorway in his space suit, his sunken eyes roving wildly.
    â€œAre you trying to kill us?” he shouted. “Move aside!”
    â€œHey! What are you doing?” yelled Parker as the man shoved him away from the controls and squeezed into the seat in his bulky suit. “This is my cruiser. You can’t just take it over.”
    Whoever the guy was, he proved that he knew his way around a piloting console by quickly slowing the cruiser to a stop. They hovered motionless among the particles while he slid his fingers across the screen and opened up a map on the console. On the screen, hundreds of white dots surrounded the pulsing beacon of their cruiser. The field of debris around them was thick, and so large that it went all the way to the edges of the map.
    â€œWe’re in the middle of an accretion disk. How did we get here?” the man asked in a strange, lilting accent. He opened up another screen, full of numbers.
    â€œI had to pull the breakaway to get us away from Trucon,” said Parker. “It put us here.”
    The man opened up a few more screens and studied them for a minute, and then he sighed loudly. “You’re lying. There’ve been two folds.”
    â€œOh, well, I think the ship took a double-jump, must’ve been—” Parker faltered.
    â€œDon’t lie to me. What happened?” The man glared at him, his dark eyes blazing feverishly against the unhealthy pallor of his skin.
    Parker stared at him, lost for words. The man lurched to his feet and grabbed Parker by the collar. “Tell me the truth!”
    â€œWe tried to plot a route,” Chase blurted out.
    The man turned his glare on Chase for a