The Gauntlet

Chapter 14 - Earth

A rumble in the deck shook Codi awake. It took a few seconds for her to get her bearings and remember where she was, and where she was going. Once she blinked herself awake and cobbled her situation back together the rush of excitement returned. Propping herself up on one elbow she turned her head to one side, extracting a c***k from her neck. Sleeping on the vibrating metal cargo deck with little more than a blanket as a buffer left her stiff and sore.

She looked around the room for the others. The twins were still asleep, bundled in a corner but she saw Max and Lita sitting together across the room deep in conversation. A thin smile slipped across her face as she let her gaze wander on. Each of the five exoskeletons lay secured in a cradle, linked up to thick black power cables feeding from the ship's drive. Then she found Vasco standing on the opposite side of the cargo bay, looking out of the thin rectangular window. Her brows creased into a frown when she realised there was a blue glow coming from outside.

Kicking the blanket away, she stood up and crossed the bay to stand beside him. Her mouth opened in amazement when she looked out the window. Outside the thin slit a rush of blue and white swirled and danced like an electrified sea, so bright that she had to close her eyes for a moment. When her eyes adjusted to the brightness she looked at Vasco.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" he said.

"What is it?" she breathed, staring back out of the window.

"It's the FTL stream."

"Which is…?"

"Faster than Light stream. It's basically what happens when you stick a big middle finger up at the laws of physics." He smirked. "I don't know how it all works."

She moved her face closer to the glass. "Wow."

"We've still got a good six hours till we reach Earth," Vasco told her. "Not much to do back here."

"Have they stayed up front the whole time?"

"Max's dad popped back to check on us a few hours ago. Other than that they've been keeping to themselves."

Codi rested her arms on the window ledge, still gazing at the beauty of the FTL stream. "I never thought I'd even see the Gauntlet, let alone compete in it."

"Mhm, who'd have thought it," Vasco chuckled. "So how do you feel?"

"Tell you the truth, I don't know." She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Nervous, happy, excited, terrified; take your pick. All I keep thinking is how much of a chance we actually have. I mean, the extra training is all well and good, but how much have we really improved? How much has actually changed since the friendly?"

"Not enough," he admitted. "But I have a game plan."

"Care to share?"

"I'll share it with everybody when we get there." He smiled. At that moment a clunk sounded through the cargo chamber and the door to the forward section opened. Max's father stepped out, cane swinging and a mischevious grin on his face.

He stood alongside them. "Looks like we beat the rush. The sensors just picked up a whole cloud of ships behind us outbound from Kantha."

"A cloud?" Codi gave him a confused look.

"Oh, it's just what you call it when the sensors can't differentiate the signals properly," Mr. Lannigan replied.

"How long until we reach Earth?"

"About four and a half hours. We made good time." He tapped his cane against the floor. "Everyone secure and snug back here?"

"Perfectly," Vasco replied.

"Very well, I'll be up front should you require me."

As he disappeared through the hatch again, Vasco turned to Codi. "Well, four hours, kid. You should try and get some sleep." He patted her on the shoulder and turned away, slouching off across the cargo bay to his own bundle of blankets.

Codi didn't know how long she spent gazing out of the window at the swirling lights of the FTL stream, feeling the reverberations of the ship's deck beneath her feet. She pulled the locket free from beneath her hoody and cupped it gently in one hand, watching the blue-white glare reflect in the burnished metal. She didn't really know why she'd hung onto it for so long. It wasn't good for anything except reminding her about the day she found herself alone.

Swallowing hard, she stuffed the locket back into its hiding place out of sight and closed her eyes, putting her head down on her hands. Even with her eyes shut she could still see the brightness of the stream bleeding through. A yawn slipped out and she relaxed. What Vasco's game plan could be she could only guess at. So she stood there and drifted back to sleep.

Crashes, twisted metal, the screams. The ball of fire.

A hand on her shoulder shook her awake. She was abruptly yanked from the dream world, blinking furiously until she focused on Max's face.

"Hey, hey," he said, raising one hand in placation. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She rubbed her eyes. "What's up?"

"We're getting close to Earth. We'll be dropping out of FTL soon. Thought you might want to know." He took his hand off her shoulder, but she saw his eyes dart down to her chest. Then she realised the locket had slipped out. Max saw it, and she caught his questioning look. An awkward silence hung over the pair for a moment before Codi eventually decided she'd been keeping secrets for long enough.

"It…" She rolled the locket in her fingers as she searched for the words. "It was meant to be a birthday present."

"From your parents?"

"Yeah."

Max nodded. "What happened?"

"We were driving through an intersection, going to get the locket engraved. Some poor guy had a heart attack at the wheel and broadsided our car with a cargo hauler. I was in the back, away from the main impact but mum and dad…" Her voice trailed off and she shrugged. "I just keep it to remember them by. It's not much, but it does the job."

"Sorry."

"Story of my life." Codi stuffed the locket back down under her hoody and stared out into the FTL stream. They stood there for a few minutes, lost in the lights as Max absorbed her brief account. Then he nudged her with one elbow and moved towards the exit hatch.

"C'mon, you'll want to see this."

"See what?"

"Earth from space."

"You've seen it before?" she asked as she followed him to the passenger section.

"Nah, but I hear it's not to be missed." He grinned.

When they filed through to the forward section the others were already waiting. Max's father sat in the pilot's chair, his family to one side and the Gauntlet team on the other. Currently the eddying lights of the FTL stream still filled the main window.

"Just in time ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Lannigan declared. "We'll be exiting the stream in…forty seven seconds." He fiddled with some of the ship's controls and in the co-pilot seat a woman Codi assumed was his wife made more adjustments. She folded her arms and watched the stream intently. Seconds ticked by, the humming of the ship's engine filling the void left by its occupants silence.

Then Codi felt the deck judder and she automatically spread her feet to steady herself.

"Oops, the old girl's having a bit of a tantrum," Mr. Lannigan chuckled. "Bear with me." He wrestled with the controls for a few seconds then the ship shook again. Codi's eyes widened as the glare of the FTL stream fell way on either side like the drawing back of a curtain, and the ship emerged back into the physical universe. And straight ahead of them, looming out of the vastness of space, was Earth.

"I see what you mean…" she breathed to Max as she took in the sight. The planet itself seemed to glitter in a haze of green, blue and silver, the massive mega cities just visible as metallic pinpricks on the major landmasses. Around the planet, however, even more hubs of population waited. Immense cylindrical space stations circled in geosynchronous orbit. Codi had heard of these orbital cities, but a poor backwater like Kantha had neither the funds nor the surplus population to warrant such things. Seeing them now filled her with awe.

Mr. Lannigan piloted the ship towards the planet, and Codi saw the glowing blue lights of other ship engines. At first it was just a handful, but the closer they drew to the stations a handful became dozens, then dozens became hundreds until by the time they were approaching their designated docking station their ship found itself in the midst of a swarm of other vessels.

Jostling for their position in the queue, they edged closer to one of the smaller orbiting habitats, although this one was still over a mile in diameter. A central cylinder made up the main structure of the station, with six fat rings arranged symmetrically all along it.

"Amber-Zulu Station, this is private vessel Jabberwocky," Mr. Lannigan hailed. "Identification ICB-145-K1, in transit with Gauntlet competition team. Request permission to dock." The rigid language sounded strange coming from their eccentric benefactor. They waited for what felt like too long, until someone from the station replied.

"Jabberwocky, your approach has been confirmed," said a female voice. "Please adjust to join docking queue seven and await instruction from harbour control." Something bleeped on Lannigan's console.

"Roger that, Amber-Zulu, much obliged." Mr. Lannigan swung the little ship out of its current trajectory and into a much smaller queue of vessels. Codi could see in the distance a dark cavity open in the outer hull of the station – presumably their docking bay. At still took the best part of an hour for them to reach the bay itself, where they were fed a series of docking instructions.

The Jabberwocky drifted lazily into a cavernous spherical room packed from wall to wall with other ships. Dozens of snake-like docking clamps waited to embrace them; long metallic limbs extending out from the bay walls. Mr. Lannigan guided the ship into its assigned position and Codi heard a series of clanking sound from outside the hull.

"Umbilical is locked in place and we have a pressurised seal," Mrs. Lannigan declared from the co-pilot seat.

"Well then," Mr. Lannigan chuckled. "Vasco, I would suggest you and your lot make your way to the OG shuttles. If I've timed this correctly you've got a few hours to make your physical check in with the Gauntlet authorities." He stood up and turned, extending a hand. "I'll be watching."

"Thanks for your help," Vasco replied, shaking the given hand. "With any luck we'll make it worth your while." He gestured to the others. "Alright everybody, grab your gear and let's get moving. We have a shuttle to catch."