Echo-1 The Whale

24: Comet Chasers

We were an interesting bunch: 

The green lizard man with his pirate sword. 

The Gila Monster with his bear tooth necklace. 

The camouflaged giant muscle hulk wearing a samurai helmet; carrying a rusty leaf blower. 

The two all-black assassins. 

Two Greenpeace aficionados in rusty robot armor. 

The naked tattooed woman with the green mohawk spiked up for the occasion. 

The skinny human-sized rust-covered robot pilot and the huge square Sentinel droid with double electric battle axes.

A whale in a tank controlling a humanoid marionette, with a back up four-armed avatar at the ready. 

A bunch of monkeys; really lizard food. 

A ferocious monster polar bear to be used as a lizard horse. 

And me. 

***

Blunt went back to the Brick. Everyone else boarded the transport. I walked onto the Sunshine scout and took the pilot seat. Styx sat waiting for me. 

"Ready. 4. Take. Off. Blikdrod." 

I had no idea what a 'Blikdrod' meant.

The next message came over my transmitter and the scout's communication system. 

"Everyone will be disconnected from the Banga's computer system. From this point on and until you are back inside the hangar you will have no communication with the Banga, nor make any reference to her or your affiliation with us. You're on your own. No one will come for you if you fail. This mission was never ordered and for all intents and purposes never happened. Now, go get that little guy back. Vronsky out." 

I hadn't heard from Vronsky in a while. He kept things to the point. I was disconnected from the Banga's network. 

As soon as the scout's door closed the airlock lights turned red. The interior door opened and the three ships all moved out of the hangar. The airlock depressurized, the lights went green, and the outer door opened. We moved out into space. The Brick glided along next to the transport ship. It didn't have half the speed or handling of the other two ships. I took up a position above them. 

We set course to loop around the outside of the Varan system and connect to with the Morning Star on the other side. We swung wide around the planets, moving at the transport's top speed. We knew the Banga would resume its course to the wormhole immediately. We'd have to catch up to them after. If we failed, it was a one-way trip. 

We circumvented the asteroid belt and watched the two Varan worlds drifted in the distance. I enjoyed the sunlight of Varan. It lit up the diamond ship with a soft red glow. We refracted light beams in all directions, a sun catcher zipping across the solar system. Rainbows streaked out into thin lines.

The comet trailed a shower of sparkling ice and gas behind it. It looked peaceful and serene passing far above the Varan system. The planets appeared very distant. We moved closer and closer to it in a perfect triangular formation. Eventually, we were close enough to spot the Magus gliding in the wake. Unmoving and silent. 

I had a moment of inspiration. "Mox, what do you think about me jetting ahead and testing the waters?" 

Our transmitters were all working. There didn't seem to be any communications jam. 

X responded. "Let's wait until we're a little closer, dude. At this range, if you accelerate away from us, you'd be on your own." 

We proceeded on in silence. It was slow to overtake an object running away from you in space. We left the Varan system and even its sun was reduced to a star in the distance with planets no longer visible.