Tevun-Krus #70 - Punk Wars II

Through the Portal and Back Again - Part 6 of a Short Story by @JeffreyVonHauger

Through the Portal and Back Again

Part 6 of Significantly Advanced Tech

By Jeffrey Von Hauger

The Captain slid back the chrome lid and revealed half of an ancient star map. His exact #71EEB8 DNA replicas moved about the bridge keeping the Dodecahedron Gravimetric Phase Shifter gliding rapidly through space. The clone playing the role of Captain on this flight leaned forward dramatically onto the table and looked at each of the non-clones, one by one, square in the eyes.

"Well, let's see if it matches up with yours?" When dealing with species who valued individual identities the #71s found it useful to use a spokesperson; a charismatic one.

Surrounding the underlit lightbox table were Taegu and Macrai of Varan, Abaddon St. Baal of Hades, Sister John Murphy the 19-year-old human with a Joan of Arc complex, and Pippalotti Ritz of Grandor.

Abaddon tucked up his wings and eyed Murphy as she pulled his half of the map out of her pocket and set it on the table. The two pieces fit together perfectly.

"Both are scribed in Melock's hand," she said.

The Captain rubbed his chin furiously and cranked one eyebrow upward.

"When read together, they show a completely different set of coordinates. Helm!"

His commands were instantly relayed to every clone on the ship, as well as uplinked to their deep space guild, and transmitted back to #71EEB8 space. The ship took an impossible 47.6-degree starboard turn, opened a new gravity well, and fell into it.

"ETA to adjusted coordinates: 32.7 seconds." The clone piloting wasn't used to saying these things aloud but did so for their guests.

Sister Murphy held her gold electro-bat in front of her like a samurai warrior and whispered to her weapon, "I'm ready."

"Ready for what?" Pippa's nervous smile was as golden as Murph's bat.

The ship disengaged its gravity drive and slung around a small celestial dwarf. All eyes turned to the view scream and a large metal oval floating in space. It was crawling with Ibi-Ero Makina robotic lifeforms. Its construction appeared complete and at its center was a Makina assault ship.

"One organic life form detected," informed the clone monitoring the sensors.

"Melock!" Pippa, Murphy, Abaddon, and the clone Captain all said simultaneously.

Turbo bolts fired towards them from the Makina ship. The clones moved in to engage. The oval ring began to spin like a gyroscope at an alarming rate. A blinding white flash consumed the Makina and burst out of the oval toward the #71 ship.

"Prepare yourself, Pippa!" Murphy spread her legs in a fighting stance.

"For what!?" She reached for Abaddon's hand but it was too late.

The light consumed half the clone vessel and the line where it stopped went right down the center of the bridge splitting the geometric orb in two. Pippalotti and Murphy were gone along with the front half of the ship. The clones on the remaining half were sucked out into space. Bodies floated everywhere. The massive steel oval slowly spun down in the distance. Makina soldiers drifted helplessly in the void.

Abaddon floated with his great white wings spread out in a swan song. His head turned and looked back at the only other living beings left on the bridge. The two Varan women, whose scales protected them from the vacuum, were scurrying along the control panels. When they saw Abaddon was still alive they linked arms, reached out, and grabbed him by the wing. They reeled him in through a pressure door to a part of the ship that still had an atmosphere.