Chapter 1
“Watch yourself before you fall into the lava, idiot,” said Garen, yanking on the collar of my shirt.
I froze with one foot hanging in the air fiftyrugars—about forty Earth feet—above a magma lake. The liquid fire below bubbled and popped. Its scorching sulfuric scent tainted the thin oxygen with an acrid stench.
“What is wrong with you, Drayven? Is Baraxen working you too hard on thePerseverance?” Amusement tinged Garen’s words.
“Rorian’s beard, that was close.” With a relieved breath, I backed from the cliff of death and wiped my brow and horns, giving my friend a nod. “Something like that.”
That godsdamned ship is seriously going to be the death of me.Being the chief Volderen engineer of the ship that would eventually take our people home, every design diagram had to be examined and approved by me. Now that Baraxen and Vorenhad returned with the human savior named Lilly, a renewed fervor for completing the vessel had spread through the colony.
“Well,” he said, turning to glance at the dark tunnel leading upward to the harsh surface of Mars. He jerked a thumb upward, where the beginnings of Perseverance’s frame a few floors above. “She may not be pretty, but she’ll do her job.”
“No, she is notpretty.” My tone came out harsher than I’d intended. “But she will nurture and protect future generations of Volderen families long enough to return to Voldera.”
Garen raised his eyebrows, and his violet skin flushed even darker. “I meant no offense, Drayven.”
Sighing, I patted his shoulder and deflated. “I know. It is just…” I lifted an arm and ran a finger along the tip of my horn, collecting my thoughts. “How she looks should not matter, but a ship needs to be more than just functional. It should not only protect its people but sustain the mind and prepare us for what the future holds. Traveling amongst the stars for decades on end will get boring and uninspiring.”
Garen chuckled. “You mean inspiration as in battle? I don’t think that will be a problem. We were bred for war.”
“No. I mean inspiration such as creativity, art, things that take one’s breath away with a glance, that ignite a yearning in the soul.”
He quirked an eyebrow, his sharp teeth peeking behind a bewildered smile. “I will never understand you. When most Volderens were holding a sword or blaster in their sixth year, you were concerned with the beauty of the weapons and how they were designed.”
“What is so wrong with that? Why can function not have beauty? We lost something in our heritage when we left Voldera all those eons ago. In our ongoing quest to save ourselves, we have forgotten how to create, to inspire, to trulylive.” I tapped the band around my wrist bearing an ugly strip of metal—mylifecord—which allowed me to communicate with my crew and other useful functions. “Like these. They heal, connect us to the fleet, translate all the languages of Earth, and even change our appearances, yet they look similar to a manacle forged by a human blacksmith from medieval times. Why do we not make their function beautifulandmeaningful?”
Garen shook his head and turned, heading up the slope and toward a recessed hallway branching into the underground hub of living quarters. “Maybe you should take some time off and visit Earth, find some of thatbeautyyou love so much.” A quiet chuckle rumbled in his chest.
Is he mocking me because I have never visited the planet, or out of his distaste for all things human?
It didn’t matter. I had been made fun of before. He was not wrong. Ihadenjoyed taking things apart to learn their purpose and marvel at their intricacies, always wondering how creators were inspired to make them in the first place.
“Maybe I will,” I yelled at his retreating back.
He raised his hand but did not turn. “Sure you will, Drayven Sure you will.”
With determination, I stalked to the lift, which would take me upward near the surface where small, personal ships called Sparrows slept in hangars.
He is right. Itistime I finally left this rusty ball of red rock.Next month would mark my fortieth Earth year, and it was high time I took a vacation. After all, a few days of respite would not be much of a setback withPerseverance. My team and I had been working on it for the past five years, and now that the frame had been fabricated, the intricate details of the inside would be hashed out with the other engineers, which would take another five years if we were lucky.
A flutter of excitement flowed through my veins as I arrived at the lift. I pressed my fingers against the lock to confirm myidentity and rank.I am going to do this. I am really going to do this.
With a quiet hiss, the metal door slid upward into the ceiling, and I stepped inside. A slight sensation of traveling upward passed within two seconds, and the door opened. I followed a bright blue pathway of lights leading into the hangar, where forty or so Sparrows waited for anyone with clearance to fire them up.
“Captain Drayven?” Ryllian, the lone lieutenant on duty, held a data pad in one hand and stared at me, his green eyes wide. “Can I help you?”
I smiled. “Yes, you can. I need a ship readied for a two- or three-day trip to Earth.”
“Oh, okay. I did not see you on the roster for today.” He swiped a finger across the data pad’s screen. “Unless I missed it, which is always possible.”
“This is a private mission for information on the generational ship design.” A droplet of sweat formed on my forehead.
Why am I worried? It is not like Baraxen would deny me a Sparrow. The military fleet does not use them for defense. They are mainly for civilians.
“Uh, maybe I should just double check that you’re authorized—”
“Lieutenant,” I barked, seeing my spontaneous quest about to shatter into a dream.How Garen will laugh and tell me he’d known I did not have the guts to visit the planet. “Are you questioning an order from Major Baraxen?”
