The Galaxy Thieves

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Halston was unintentionally doing all he could to prove that statement incorrect as the open-top craft containing him and Zenith hurtled through dark matter, skimming the cusp of black hole after black hole, but at such velocity that they were never sucked in.

If Zenith was yelling for him to quieten down, Halston could not hear. A piercing screech had been infiltrating his ears ever since Zenith hit the boost and they went off-grid, where space wasn’t just dangerous, but deadly. If that shrieking sound was his own scream, intensified in its shrillness by the chemical compounds of whatever atmospheres they were racing through, then it was terrifying that he could produce such a noise, but he didn’t stop, not when he thought imminent death was inevitable. In this spot of the universe the pair of them could be dodging black holes for myr upon myr on an endless loop, until the craft malfunctioned or Zenith misjudged the precise degree of one turn and they plunged into the depths of where nothing ever escaped.

Halston’s body, limbs and head were thrown left, then right, backwards, then forwards, over and over. There was no point fighting it. The prospect of knocking himself unconscious on the door rail was begrudgingly enticing, given it may actually provide his best outcome of being completely unaware of anything going on. He closed his eyes and continued to scream.

After countless more jolts and swerves and swivels, there was a loud whoosh, followed by a hissing release of air. The engine cut out and the whole craft vibrated as it hovered, then swayed from side to side as it lowered. Halston knew this was far too soon to stop. He dreaded what this meant; dreaded to look, because that made it real and something to deal with.

“Get out,” came Zenith’s booming voice.

Halston heard the door on the driver’s side open and finally opened his eyes. “Where are we?” His voice was at its normal pitch.

“Just get out, quick.”

Halston did as he was instructed. His eyes adjusted as he stepped out into space and saw Zenith had stationed them deep within a spiral system, facing what must have been the closest star, burning away as the only major light source in the vicinity. “How do you know…” He stopped, realising that Zenith was out of earshot at the back of the craft, rummaging in the rear storage compartment. Halston walked over just as Zenith pulled out the murky green duffle bag that Halston had been hoping he wasn’t going to be seeing again for a long, long time.

“Come on,” Zenith said, bustling past Halston and striding beyond the front of the craft. “We don’t have much time here.”

“For what?” But Zenith was already out of earshot again. Halston ran to catch up and stopped beside his associate, just a little too far from the craft for his liking in what was very much an unknown and unpredictable area. “What are we…” Zenith held up his free hand to prevent the end of the question.

Zenith stepped forward, then down, then repeated it twice more, like he was walking down an invisible staircase. He turned and motioned for Halston to follow, which he did, with each step glancing back at the craft and just generally around in any direction that wasn’t straight ahead.

“Stop looking around like that. You’re making me nervous.”

“Sorry, I’m just thinking what if… what if they kept up with us, and saw where we…”

“No chance,” Zenith snapped. “But that’s why we’ve got to use that boost advantage and do this as quickly as we can, so if they pass by here within the next millennia, there will be no trace.”

“Do what though?”

Zenith unzipped the bag, placed it down by his feet, then crouched and took out two of the planets from inside, which Halston recognised as the largest two; the gas giants. He stood up and pushed the bag towards Halston with one foot. “Scatter some around here. I’m gonna set these two a bit further along, then come back and get a couple more.”

Halston stared at the bag. Zenith was already jogging off. “Wait a minute,” Halston said, conscious of time, but right now only really concerned with his understanding of this seemingly random endeavour. All the work to get these planets, only to leave them here; is that really what Zenith was doing? “Why here? Why now?”

Zenith grinned as he looked back. His eyes were wide as they caught the light of the star, momentarily transitioning to flickering, menacing embers. He didn’t look like anyone Halston wanted to be partnered with. “Can you not feel that, the gravity of this place?”

Halston frowned, then considered. Instinct had told him something was off, the second he stepped out of the craft, but then he was too distracted by what Zenith was doing to determine exactly why he got that feeling. He picked up the bag by the handle straps and allowed his grip to loosen. It didn’t feel like it would drop if he let go, or at least not fall anywhere near as fast as it would back at the place he called home. Zenith was right, the change in force was apparent, and Halston suddenly realised both of them were moving - their entire bodies - without any physical effort; slow enough that it could easily go unnoticed, but definitely being pulled against their will towards the star. Zenith’s grin widened as he saw Halston’s moment of realisation.

“But how did you know about this place?”

Zenith looked at the planets in his hands, then nodded in the direction of the bag. “Just align those with mine as best you can, then we’ll hide them behind the star.” The pair weren’t that far apart but Halston was now having trouble hearing his associate.

“But isn’t the… the gravity too strong?” Halston called back. “Won’t they start to orbit?”

“Yes, but we’ll be back before they all appear at this side again.”

“And when will that be?”

“When it’s safe.” Or at least that’s what it sounded like. Zenith turned again and began running against the opposing force.

Halston knew what he had to do. He took a few steps right, set the bag down and - like Zenith - took two planets from inside. The red one he positioned in front of him after checking where Zenith had placed the largest, then jogged a few more steps right and released the blue one with green patches, which he’d forgotten was in fact about double the size of the red one. Back beside the bag, he was about to reach in for another two when Zenith came sprinting up, almost out of breath by the time he stopped.

“Quick, give me those foggy-like ones and the really tiny one, I’ll take them to the very end.” He thrust his hands into the bag and pulled them out. “Slot Venus in a bit further along,” he said before setting off again, calling back with: “but not too close to the star.”

Halston, finally catching on to Zenith’s sense of urgency, jogged further along and released Venus. There was one left, but surely any closer to the star was too close. He could already feel the heat burning into the pockets of his exposed bare skin like steam condensing to sweat. He shifted Venus back slightly and set Mercury in the vacant position just as Zenith returned, panting and wheezing even more than before.

“This isn’t too close to the star, is it?”

Zenith frowned. He held a hand out in front of him, then glanced back at the row they’d just created; the furthest completely hidden behind the reddish-brown giant at the midway point. Such was the gravity, satellites were already getting caught in Jupiter’s pull.

“It’ll be fine,” Zenith said at last. “It’ll be at least sixty billion years before it gets close to burning up. We’ll be back within fifty.”

Halston shivered. “That’s cutting it a bit fine.”

“It’s all good, don’t worry. Right, come on, let’s get them behind the star, quick.”

The craft had drifted down close to them and Zenith leaned into the small compartment behind the driving section, re-emerging with the traction laser, modelled on the most advanced rifle available on the firearms market. “I get one chance to get this right. Two, if all the luck of the Elder Gods is shining on me.”

He pointed the open end of the laser at Mercury, held down the trigger to ignite the vibrant blue beam, then slowly manoeuvred it left and through the entire row of planets. There was a flash and a spark as each was hit, but it seemed to have worked.

“I think I’ve got them all,” Zenith exclaimed, but Halston could hear the first signs of nerves in his voice and only smiled sheepishly in reply.

In an equally controlled motion, Zenith rotated the laser back towards the right and the planets all moved in sync. Halston watched with clenched fists and gritted teeth; the process seeming to bring out a trait of impatience he didn’t know he had. He dared not even breathe too loud for fear of disrupting Zenith and the planets spraying off in all directions, perhaps into other systems, rendering them unretrievable, which didn’t even bear thinking about.

Once they were behind the star, Zenith stopped the laser and wiped the back of one hand across his brow, glistening as it moved away. “Let’s get out of here,” he said after a large, deep breath.

They both turned back towards the craft, with Halston immensely relieved it hadn’t drifted too far from them.

“Dammit,” Zenith snapped, the anguish in his voice at this moment of such vulnerability and trepidation causing Halston to jump. “I didn’t get the tiny one. Look.” He nodded to a dot in the distance. “I knew I should’ve left it closer. It’s too damn small and far away for the laser to pick up. I’m gonna have to run up there and push it around.”

Halston gulped. “Are you sure? Do we really need it? You can barely see it.”

“But see it you can.” Zenith forced the traction laser into Halston’s hands. “You go to the craft and I’ll be as quick as I can.” He didn’t give Halston any time to question it.

From the side of the craft and once again with bated breath, Halston watched every step of his associate’s journey until he was also a small figure in the distance. Just as Zenith had taken hold of the final planet there was a small flash off up high to Halston’s left. He blinked firmly twice, believing it to be a mere trick of the eyes after such a sustained period of concentration, and then he saw the circling white lights of the trooper vessel.

Halston felt sick and grabbed onto the door rail for much-needed support. They’d been located, either by a pure stroke of luck or some masterful tracking, but it didn’t matter how, just that they had. It shouldn’t have been possible. All Halston’s worst fears about this risk-laden voyage were coming to fruition. And it was unfolding at the worst possible time, with him and Zenith separated, completely out of communicative range from one another.

Halston steadied himself and refocused to locate Zenith’s position. Even if Zenith had noticed the trooper vessel he had no choice but to carry on. Heart pounding, Halston hastily calculated the far half-orbit that Zenith was on to be 100 years, give or take 25, so he should make it to the release point behind the star even if he was spotted, providing there were no hindrances.

In an exact repeat of his jittery demeanour while watching the traction laser in action, Halston followed Zenith’s trajectory along the orbit, almost certainly being tailed by the trooper vessel as he disappeared behind the star. The most direct route back to Halston and the craft now meant flying extremely close to the scorching heart of this system, which - from the moment they arrived - had failed to look as though it could comfortably contain its own frenzied heat. At this distance, Halston could survive a supernova, but his associate would not. Even severe burns would be worth it if it meant they both avoided capture.

“Come on, come on,” Halston silently pleaded. His grip on the door rail felt like it would cause an indentation.

Zenith reappeared and Halston exhaled so heavily he briefly went light-headed. Zenith was on the near side of the star in no time, with the trooper vessel now in hot pursuit, and Halston could see the look of strain, anguish and exhaustion on Zenith’s face as he drew closer to Halston and the craft, but he was going to make it, just.

At a distance where Halston could actually hear his associate’s heavy, throaty breaths, Zenith appeared to slow down, so much so that it seemed like he had completely stopped. His limbs were still thrashing away ten to the dozen with all the energy he could muster, but he was no longer moving forward with anywhere near the same momentum as the rest of his improvised journey. The realisation struck both at the same moment.

“This… damn… gravity,” Zenith yelled, already starting to drift backwards despite every effort to force himself against it. “I’m… I’m not going to make it. You… no, get back!” Halston had instinctively stepped forward, but stopped himself at Zenith’s command. “You’ll be sucked in. Do not risk it. You have to get out on your own.”

“I’m not leaving without you. I’ll get the craft.”

“No, it won’t work.” Zenith shouted again, but already sounded muffled with the increasing distance. “And… and… look.” He struggled to raise an arm to point behind Halston, who shot his head around. Another larger trooper vessel had entered from the same pocket as the previous one, but this time it was coming for him. The distance was about a decade; no time at all.

“Go, now,” came the far-off sound of Zenith’s voice. “You must get out. Boost it and they’ll never catch you.”

Halston glanced back to Zenith, now shrunken to half the size of when Halston had last looked just moments before.

“You know what you need to do… where to go…” Nothing else that followed was clear enough to work out.

Halston turned back to the craft and suddenly felt himself falling, like whatever matter he’d been standing on had been swept away. He managed to grab onto the door of the craft, which was also beginning to slowly tilt downwards, like a building teetering on the edge of a crumbling cliff face, poised to drop at any moment and be gone forever in a flash. The expanding gravity pull was threatening to doom him as well. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let all of the pair’s work and effort be for nothing.

Halston heaved himself up and threw himself over the door rail and into the driver seat. He bashed at the start-up pad, then yanked the safety straps over his shoulders and across his chest to clip in at either side of the seat. The craft whirred into life and briefly steadied itself to counter the gravity pull. Halston had no idea how close the second trooper vessel was by now, but there was no time to check. His hands grasped the helm and his eyes darted around for the boost, lost in a sea of multi-coloured blur across the dashboard. He spotted it and reached out, missing the button on the first attempt, before stabilising his shaking hand and directing it straight onto the correct spot on the second go. The engine roared and he felt the craft lift; pressure building, constricting every fibre of feeling.

In the split-second before he hit hyperspace, Halston glanced in the direction of where he last saw Zenith and saw only a speck. He breathed in, knowing he’d be light years away before breathing back out, and was gone.