Starbounders by Adam Jay Epstein Page A

the tricky part. I once saw this show on the Discovery Channel that said if someone goes overboard on a cruise ship at night, the odds of being rescued are one in a million. Now picture that instead of being lost at sea, you’re lost in an infinite universe.”
    â€œWhat do you think they’ve told our parents?” Zachary asked Kaylee.
    â€œProbably that there was an accident,” Kaylee said. “Or that they lost communication with our ship.”
    Zachary’s chest immediately tightened. He had a horrible feeling that he would never see his family again. How was he supposed to get his friends out of this mess? When was Jacob going to drop in from wherever it was he was on assignment to save them? Or would they be spending the rest of their short lives here on Sirocco? Kingston was sounding pretty good right about now.
    Zachary had been falling in and out of sleep for what felt like hours. Every time he drifted off, his dreams took him to waterfalls or mountain springs. But the mental mirages left him just as thirsty as before. Then he felt a drop of water land on his forehead. This was no dream. Was it raining?
    Zachary’s eyes peeled open to find Jahir standing over him, drooling from his open mouth. As the gaunt alien bared his wolfish teeth and lunged, Zachary acted on instinct alone, rolling out of the way.
    He screamed for help; at least he tried to. But his throat had become so dry, all that came out was a scratchy, barely audible wheeze. Kaylee and Ryic slept right through it.
    â€œI hate to go to bed on an empty stomach.” Jahir licked his lips as he circled his prey. Zachary could already picture Jahir burying those long fangs in his flesh.
    Clenching his fists, he realized he was still wearing his glove. Then, in the dim starlight he spotted one of the sonic crossbows lying near the sleeping Skold. Acting fast, Zachary opened a warp hole. He grabbed the crossbow, pulling it to his side. Without hesitating he took aim at Jahir and pulled the trigger. But no beam of sound shot out from the crossbow. Zachary looked down to see salt clogging the firing mechanism. When his eyes flicked back up to his enemy, Jahir was smiling.
    The fugitive pounced, clawing at Zachary’s face and pinning him on his back. Jahir was closing in for the kill. Zachary used all his strength to push the beast but was unsuccessful. Jahir’s teeth were moving toward Zachary’s neck when a photon bolt struck him in the back of the head, felling him to the ground instantly. Zachary shoved the lifeless alien off him to see Skold standing with photon cannon in hand.
    â€œIt wasn’t going to be long before I was on the menu, too,” Skold said.
    The blast had awakened Ryic and Kaylee. They scrambled to their feet.
    â€œWhat happened?” Ryic asked, still disoriented.
    â€œJahir was looking for a midnight snack,” Zachary whispered hoarsely, wiping blood from the deep scratches on his cheeks.
    â€œZachary, are you okay?” Kaylee asked, moving toward him to help.
    â€œI’ve been in fights before,” Zachary croaked. “Granted, most of them weren’t with aliens who looked like the Big Bad Wolf’s ugly cousin.”
    Skold was digging a hole beside Jahir’s body. The shockle still dangled from his left wrist.
    â€œYou really think he deserves a proper burial?” Kaylee asked, making it obvious she didn’t.
    â€œI just don’t want to be stuck smelling him all night,” Skold said. “Now go back to sleep. We still have a few hours before dawn.”

«SEVEN»
    T he first sun of Sirocco had risen, and the four remaining survivors of the Dreadnought Epsilon crash wasted no time. Guided by the compass in Ryic’s warp glove, they walked for hours over the increasingly hot sand. According to the pulsing light, they were getting close to the safe haven—and the emergency hopper ship docked inside it.
    Zachary walked beside Kaylee,