The Blue Orb

By Mark Archibald




Landing the cruiser with new-found skill Zyte stopped and picked up Wik and Faj who were both waiting outside Wik's abode. Zyte stepped out of the titanium-hulled cruiser and grinned a toothless grin of pride.

"Wow", said Wik, "What a beauty, and look at all the options!"

Faj was equally impressed, "You lucky slime-maggot, I wish my parents would buy me a new cruiser for my seventh origin."

"Well, when you’re willing to put up with ancient relatives you haven’t seen since your third origin, then maybe you can get one too! I had to spend four time units with all the ancients at my origin party. What torture!" laughed Zyte.

"Is that why it took you so long to get here?" teased Faj

"Get in and we’ll take her for a zip!" Zyte punched the console and accelerated with a 12-G vertical lift-off.

"Primo power," was all Faj could say as he was sucked back into the contoured seat.

Changing the subject, Zyte said, "Check out the Vorcan hide interior and the contour seats." Beaming with pride Zyte subconsciously ran his three digits over the plush interior hide.

"Hey Zyte, where we headin'?" inquired Wik.

"How about the Felstar system?"

"Those life forms are too stupid to buzz," said Wik, "Why not the Sol system? We could buzz those retards on the blue orb."

Zyte smiled toothlessly, "Great idea. We can monitor their transmissions and watch them get all excited."

Zyte punched in the coordinates and selected maximum drive. "We'll be there in one time unit."

Soon the light of Sol was visible on their view screen

"Who do we buzz once we get there?" asked Wik.

"My sibling, Bov, is always telling me of his adventures around a large continent in the Northern Hemisphere. Some of the inhabitants down there get real spasmo when they see non-indigenous craft."

Wik and Faj looked at each other. "Sounds good to us," said Faj.

"Bov said if you orbit at roughly ten range-clicks, the land looks like Borezikan cyst with its tongue hanging out," Zyte said enthusiastically.

Zyte pulled the craft into orbit at ten range-clicks and circumnavigated the blue orb.

"There it is," yelled an excited Faj. "But it is in its shadow phase."

"That’s good. It's supposed to be the best time, plus Bov said one of the best places is where the cyst’s tongue sticks out. Its a place the inhabitants call Flota or Floda or something unpronounceable," Zyte intoned, giggling with amusement and thinking of his upcoming little joke. "We’re supposed to activate our emergency beacons also, this supposedly works them up into a real zillion-like frenzy."

"Emergency beacons? What is that supposed to do?" inquired Wik.

"Well, they have something similar on their cruisers that is supposed get your attention or warn you of something or another."

"They have cruisers?"

"Sort of," replied Zyte. "They've some cruisers smaller than ours and some bigger, but most of them can't cruise higher than two or three clicks. But we have to be careful 'cause they take 90 sub-time units to make a 90-degree turn. Plus, according to Bov, they're as slow as a slime-maggot."

"Ninety sub-time units! That’s slower than any slime-maggot I've ever seen," laughed Faj.

Zyte lowered the cruiser to one sub-range click, hovering just above the tallest vertical vegetation in the area. Zyte was beaming with excitement anticipating his first buzzing of the inhabitants of the Blue Orb. "Now according to the stories I've heard we just activate our emergency beacons and cruise past that group of beings near the water, then do a little a vertical and horizontal zigzag out over the water."

Zyte proceeded to entertain his friends and himself by flying a few simple maneuvers with his craft. He could see orbians or what he figured were orbians, waving and holding up square boxes, which flashed light. Faj was all giggles as Zyte piloted the cruiser back and forth through the blue orbs dark atmosphere.

"Now, let’s give them a little show," said Zyte with a mischievous grin.

"What are you up to?" asked Wik.

"I believe I will do a hoody-woody!"

"Wow, a hoody-woody. Have you ever done one before?" Wik questioned him nervously.

"I’ve seen them done on many occasions; no need to be concerned. They're not that hard to do," replied Zyte with more confidence than he felt.

Zyte shot horizontally over the water again and stopped three sub-clicks away from the beings on shore. "They can still see us here, and they'll wonder what we'll do next. This should shock them good." Zyte increased power output to maximum and accelerated rapidly toward the shore. His speed neared sub-light one. Just as the cruiser reached shore and the orbians shrieked and ducked in terror, Zyte pushed the ' up vertical' button and the cruiser did a ninety degree turned from full horizontal to full vertical. The cruiser shuddered under the strain, but achieved this unique maneuver. The G indicator was pegged at a full 24. Zyte, Wik and Faj had the wind knocked out of them as they were crushed into the padded seats. Finally as the blue orb peeled away beneath them, Zyte was able to reach the power handle and began decreasing power. G was dropping back to normal and they all finally sucked in a deep breath of ozone, then they all got the giggles, which led to a good laughing jag. Finally, Zyte brought the cruiser to a halt at twenty clicks. He had wanted to stop at ten but he just couldn't reach the lever in time.

"That ought to blast their minuscule minds", laughed Wik.

"Well, I suppose that is probably enough fun for our first time buzzing Sol's blue orb."

"Are there any other sub- lifeforms in this system Zyte?" asked Faj.

"Don't you pay attention at learning times? There aren’t any more semi-sentient life forms in this system; these are the only ones. But they sure are fun to buzz." intoned Zyte. "Let's head back home and talk to my sibling. He knows of lots of places to buzz semis."

"Did anyone ever tell you the story of the buzzer who crashed?" asked Zyte

"No" both replied; astonished that anything like this could happen.

"Well, supposedly the leaders have been able to keep it quiet except for a few leaks. We have a relative who works in the leadership and he told us that roughly twenty seasons ago someone on his origin day decided to buzz Sol's blue orb. He had two of his best friends with him and he lost control and crashed in some remote and arid area. I think it was on the western side of their hemisphere. He was severely injured but was still able to get off an emergency rescue blip. When the rescue cruiser got there the place was crawling with orbians, so the rescue cruiser returned without them."

"Wow, that must have been horrible, crashed on world full of semis," Faj expressed with great concern.

"The leaders sent out a few stealth rescue missions, but it was learned that two died in the crash and the third was taken and held under armed guards. It was believed that he died shortly after."

Wik and Faj thought in silence as Zyte powered the cruiser back home. Zyte spoke after a short while, "I think... I think the semis called it the Roseburg or Rosbug incident."

THE END

© 1999 by Mark Archibald

Bio: At 42 I still am not sure what I want to be when I grow up. However, my supportive wife says I need to decide soon and writing has been a strong force in my life. So I will continue to pursue the markets. Currently my real job is proprietor of a small market and deli in rural Ohio.

E-mail: karen123@bright.net


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