Episode One: Lights, Camera, Impact! Read online

was aiming a gun at her. And when he pulled the trigger and the bullet slammed into her right shoulder, knocking her off her feet, causing her to yell out and drop her helmet, she remembered it immediately.

  The starship mechanic walked over to Galaxy, who was still stunned by the bullet, and stomped on her shoulder. This cause her to cry out, but he shut up her quickly with a solid kick to the mouth, his heavy boot smashing into her teeth and making her taste blood in her mouth.

  “An honest mistake will still get you killed, though,” said Jeff, his words barely understandable through the haze of pain that overwhelmed Galaxy's mind.

  His boot dug in deeper into her wound, causing Galaxy to gasp, “You … monster …”

  Jeff sighed, cocked his gun, and pointed it at her face. “What an unimaginative little woman you are, Captain Galaxy. And here I thought you were one of the best starship mechanics in the entire Universal Alliance. I guess knowing how to build starships doesn't mean knowing how to come up with creative insults, does it?”

  Through her watery eyes, Galaxy saw that Jeff had his index finger on the trigger of his old gun. She instinctively reached for her own laser pistol before remembering that it had been confiscated earlier. Jeff must have noticed the gesture because he immediately brought his boot down on her right hand, crushing it and causing her to cry out involuntarily this time.

  “I'm getting bored,” said Jeff, his tone matching the words. “I've got places to be and a boss to answer to. I'll just blow your brains out and leave you here to rot.”

  Even in her pain, Galaxy wasn't going to have any of that. As Jeff took aim with his gun, she grabbed his left ankle with her right hand and pulled. This caused him to fall, his boot leaving her wound, making it bleed freely once more, but Galaxy didn't think about that. She just rolled to her feet even as Jeff recovered from the fall and scrambled back to his own.

  Panting, Jeff aimed his gun at her again, looking far more murderous now. “Nice try, woman. But you can't beat me. You're unarmed and badly wounded. If I were you, I'd give up now, 'cause if you do, I'll make your death a little less painful.”

  Galaxy gripped her wounded, still-bleeding shoulder, her eyes darting all over the bridge, looking for anything she could use as a weapon as she said, “I've … been wounded far worse than this before.”

  Jeff sneered. “I'm sure you have. Now die.”

  He shot his gun again, causing Galaxy to dive to the side to avoid being hit by the bullet again. She crashed over the side of the small wall, landing flat on her back, accidentally favoring her right shoulder. The pain exploded, but she didn't give herself time to feel it or even scream because she heard Jeff making his way over to her and she really didn't have any time to do anything except get up and run.

  But she couldn't even do that she was in such pain, so she rolled across the floor as Jeff appeared over the top of the small wall, gun in hand. He took aim and fired at her just as Galaxy rolled underneath one of the computer terminals that controlled the ship. The crackle of glass and electricity made Galaxy wince, but thankfully the terminal protected her from Jeff's bullets. She stopped underneath the terminal, breathing heavily as she heard Jeff make his way over to her.

  “Hiding?” said Jeff. “Like a little girl? For shame. Here I thought you were a full-grown woman. And yet here you are, playing the same games that my own little girls like to play. I suppose terror really does turn adults into whimpering babies, doesn't it?”

  Galaxy's heart beat so fast that she was pretty sure it was going to explode. Her shoulder was still bleeding and she didn't know what to do. She just lay there, listening as Jeff got ever closer, his footsteps becoming louder and louder the closer he got.

  -

  Five hours and fifty-five minutes left …

  Space lugged the head of the plasma robot behind him. He wished he was stronger or that Magna 5's gravity wasn't so heavy or that the robot's head didn't weigh a thousand pounds, but he couldn't just leave it behind, even though it was quite ugly in appearance.

  He did manage to pull it up the canyon incline without too much trouble, but it was still heavy. He dragged it across the sand directly to the Artistic Sail, which stood alone there on the windswept plain like a large red balloon. He saw no plasma cannons yet, but if this all went as planned, then he wouldn't see any plasma cannons ever.

  His plan was simple. The plasma robot, he assumed, had to come from the Artistic Sail. He did not know that for sure—didn't even know if Zingfree actually had a robot or not—but he didn't know where else it had come from. And besides, why would it attack him if it wasn't defending the starship, for whatever reason?

  He suspected that the Artistic Sail's plasma cannon was designed to blow up anyone who wasn't a member of the ship's crew. Assuming the robot was in fact a member of the crew, Space figured that by dragging it along beside him, the plasma cannon wouldn't try to blow him up for fear of harming the robot's head.

  There were holes in the plan, though, as there were in every plan he made (as Galaxy always liked to remind him, much to his annoyance). For one, he didn't know if the plasma cannon's sensors would recognize the robot's head as being a member of the crew. Even if it did, perhaps the plasma cannon held a grudge against the robot or didn't care for it and so would blow Space up anyway.

  It's risky, Space thought. But I don't have any other choices right now.

  He glanced at his com-watch as he dragged the robot head. Sparky had not updated him on the meteor's status. He doubted the meteor was close enough to get into the range of the Adventure's lasers; however, he could always be wrong, and the last time he had been wrong he had had to pay half a month's pay to the authorities of Zaron and apologize to several very angry chefs.

  Space reached what he estimated to be the boundaries of the plasma cannon. He looked up at the Artistic Sail, which looked deceptively peaceful, and hesitated. The crater that the plasma cannon had made from before was still there; not smoking as much as earlier, true, but it was still a vivid reminder of the power that the plasma cannon possessed.

  Why the heck does a holofilm director need a military-grade plasma cannon equipped to his ship anyway? Space thought. Oh, never mind. It's now or never, Space, and if you decide never, you can say good bye to Galaxy for good.

  Steeling himself, wondering exactly what Sparky would put in his coffin when he was going to be blown to smithereens, Space took one step forward, making sure to bring the robot's head with him. He had his eyes closed, expecting to hear the plasma cannon rise out of the ship and blow him to the great starship in the sky (or in another dimension or wherever heaven was supposed to be).

  A few seconds passed, but Space still didn't open his eyes, knowing as he did the delay in the plasma cannon's reaction. A few more seconds passed and he allowed himself to open his eyes, just a teensy bit, to see if he was going to die.

  Much to his relief, the plasma cannon was nowhere to be seen. The Artistic Sail looked much the same as it always had. This gave Space the courage he needed to march across the sand as fast as he could, remembering to keep the robot head by his side as close as he could all the while.

  I hope you're still alive in there, Galaxy, Space thought. Because if you aren't …

  -

  Five hours and forty-five minutes left …

  Galaxy looked around the underside of the computer terminal she was lying under, her panic growing with every step of Jeff's boots against the floor. This made it hard to think rationally, to look for a way out, and because of that she felt like she was going to die, no matter what happened. Even if she somehow managed to escape Jeff, her shoulder was still open, which meant she might lose too much blood, especially if she could not get medical attention in time.

  So she let instinct take over. If she was going to die, she might as well die like an animal.

  She rolled out from under the computer terminal and hopped to her feet, her instincts ignoring the pain in her right shoulder. Jeff was only a few feet away from her
and when he saw her come up, he once again smiled, like a child being given a new toy.

  “Good,” said Jeff. “Die.”

  He aimed and fired at her again, but Galaxy somehow managed to dodge it. With her left hand, she delivered a punch directly to Jeff's chin, putting all of her strength behind the blow. Jeff staggered backwards, dropping his gun as he did so, allowing Galaxy to move in and lash out with a kick at his groin.

  The would-be killer jumped to the side, allowing her foot to go past him. While Galaxy still held her leg up, Jeff grabbed her foot and pulled forward, causing her to fall flat on her back. This made her shoulder burn with pain yet again, temporarily shocking her.

  This gave Jeff all the time he needed to retrieve his gun and get down on top of her. Straddling her, using his legs to pin her arms to the ground, he grabbed her head with his other hand and stuck the barrel of his gun straight into her mouth. It tasted like old metal and gunpowder, a terrible combination that would have made her cough if she didn't have the gun in her mouth.

  “I'm done with you, bitch,” said Jeff, breathing down on her hard. “You've got spirit, I'll give you that. But I don't have time to waste playing with you.”

  Galaxy's eyes widened as Jeff shoved the gun deeper down her throat. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, and her shoulder was still burning and bleeding. Jeff's