Archive of Niklascomics.de

Chapter One
The Key and the Stone

Smedley was mixing some very interesting venoms when the door to his laboratory creaked open.

“Smedley?” a small voice asked, “I am in need of a potion, I think.”

The wizard turned to face his visitor. “Prince Niklas! What can I brew for you?”

The boy looked concerned. “I have not been sleeping well for several nights. I have been having the same dream.”

The young boy wandered into the lab, absently touching the bottles and jars that filled Smedley’s many tables, “In the dream…I’m lost in a fog, it grows thicker and thicker until I can’t see or even move. Then, a hand reaches through the fog to help lead me out, but for some reason I am afraid to take it. I wake up startled each time.”

The young prince faced the old wizard with pleading eyes. “Please, can you give me a drought that will give me pleasant dreams? Or even no dreams at all would be welcome.”

The wizard smiled. “Ah lad, I know these symbols. Soon you are to be king, and your sleeping mind has realized this. Manhood is upon you, lad. That is what stalks you in your dreams. No potion will cure that.”

The boy sighed. Niklas was often reminded these days by his mother, his chambermaid, his food taster--the entire castle-- of the duties that would soon fall upon him. But these dreams…? There was more to them than just his misgivings, he knew it.

“And there is another thing, Smedley. In my dream I am sometimes holding that odd key you once gave me. What does that mean to you?”

Smedley paused and stroked his beard. “That crystal key, you say?”

Niklas waited as the wizard affected a serious tone. “That key you would have never remembered again had you not seen it in now your dreams. In the morning you must journey to the mountains and bring it to Randlyn the Mage. He will know what it is for.”

Prince Niklas was startled. He certainly had not expected that his dreams could have meant this much! “Smedley, what is this about?”

“Young Prince, your kingship is in peril!” Smedley said gravely. “Go to sleep now. You must depart at first light.”

Smedley’s stare pushed the boy out the door with no more questions. Alone, the wizard looked down at his hands and sighed. Yes, Prince Niklas would leave tomorrow.

And afterwards, he would never see him again.

…

That night, again the dream of fog. In his dream Prince Niklas held the key tight to his chest. As always, a hand reached out to him from the mist, but this time it only beckoned. Niklas walked forward, not afraid now but curious. Through the fog he saw a keyhole, just a keyhole attached to nothing but air. The boy awoke clear-headed and eager.

The prince dressed, and then took down from a shelf the box that held his strange key, a gift from Smedley when he had turned five. The key was narrow and made of violet crystal. The cross section of its grooved shaft made a star, and the tip was wickedly sharp. Niklas now remembered: he had pricked his finger pressing it against that tip. A tiny, star-shaped scar remained. Smedley was right: Niklas had not thought of the key once since that time.

Prince Niklas departed the castle on his horse without even arousing the stable hands. By noon he had passed the borders of Wineland and was en route to the Mountains of Oblivion. Hours later he and his horse had made their way halfway up a treacherous path to where Niklas knew Randlyn the Mage ought to be, but then the path narrowed. Niklas tied his mount to a tree and went the remainder of the way on foot.

Past many sentinel rocks that nearly made the trail unpassable, Prince Niklas finally reached the hidden plateau that led to the Cave of Glass where mysterious crystals grew and glowed. Here was the source of Randlyn’s power, and therefore, where he expected Randlyn to appear if he disturbed the space.

“Randlyn Darkwolf!” Prince Niklas cried out, “Show yourself!” Niklas touched one of the many crystals that grew from the rock near the mouth of the cave, knowing that Randlyn could feel the presence of any intruder.

An hour passed, and then the sound of feet dashing across stone disturbed Niklas, who had been sitting and contemplating the strange turn of events in his life. When he turned, he saw a large wolf, dark as shadow, but with eyes that flickered like blue flame.

Niklas smiled. “Randlyn! Where were you for so long?”

The wolf now stood on its hind legs, its forelimbs straightening, toes becoming fingers. A shroud of dark wind wrapped around the creature and then blew away. Randlyn the Mage stood before Niklas now, a long-haired boy barely older than Niklas, naked but for a wolf pelt draped over his head and shoulders. Yet the boy’s eyes burned blue just as the wolf’s had.

“I was hunting and killing rabbits in the forest below,” Randlyn said as he circled Niklas, “And I was having a good time of it before someone trespassed in my sanctum.”

Randlyn sounded unexpectedly cross. Niklas decided to let it pass. “Wineland might be expanding. I thought this place might make for a nice tennis court!”

Randlyn crossed his arms. “You are here on a serious matter, I can feel it, even if you cannot. What brings you, Prince Niklas?”

Niklas dropped his humor. He told Randlyn about his dreams and showed him the key.

“So it is this.” Randlyn said after a moment of thought. “Wait here”

Randlyn entered the cave, Niklas could barely conceive how the boy’s bare flesh would not be pierced a hundred times by the sharp crystals that grew in all directions. But minutes later the mage returned, unscratched.

In each hand Randlyn held an opened geode, their surfaces smooth and flat, halos of color spreading from the jagged centers.

Randlyn stood before Niklas, and the stone beneath his feet rose, lifting him a foot off the ground, fresh crystals sprouting around the short pedestal.

“Pick one of these stones. They are your destiny.”

Niklas shook his head, baffled. “What… what do you mean? Randlyn, why are you being so dire?”

Now as Randlyn spoke, his voice seemed to come from all around Niklas, from the rocks and the clouds. “Your kingdom is imperiled. It is imperiled because it may soon be ruled by a cowardly king!”

Prince Niklas felt a lump in his throat, suddenly feeling more naked than Randlyn. It was as if his secret fears about ruling were known everywhere.

“No”, said Randlyn “Your most dangerous fears are those not even known to you!”

Niklas gasped! Had the mage read his mind?

“These stones are your destiny. Both lead to a throne, both lead to your kingdom’s doom, but only one leads the way out of it. Choose.”

Niklas could tell there would be no further explanation, and he now knew that Smedley had expected him to be put to this test.

The geode in Randlyn’s right hand was pear-shaped, the milky ribbons of color spreading like a butterfly’s wings. At the center of the stone, pink crystals formed a vertical split.

In his left hand, the rock was round, rose colored at the edges turning bright red at the center, where a small cavity lay.

Niklas extended his hand, first unclear, then sure that he was meant to pick the stone in Randlyn’s right hand. Sure… that he was meant to.

But not sure that he wished to.

Feeling the shame of Randlyn’s charge of cowardice, Niklas grabbed the stone from the mage’s left hand before he could second-guess himself. He stared at it, his face reflecting in the polished surface. He poked the hole in its center curiously with his scarred fingertip. This was the right stone.

But wait… what was that about his kingdom being doomed?

Niklas looked up. “Randlyn, I…”

He was alone.

The prince stood and called for the mage but heard nothing except the wind.

Niklas stared at the stone, touched it and turned it. What did it mean?

The boy turned to go back the way he had come, but then a thought occurred. He looked again at the stone, the shape of the small cavity. Star shaped.

Niklas withdrew his key and placed the tip of it in the center of the stone. A moment or two of twisting, and then… yes! With some resistance, the key slipped neatly in-between the crystals.

The prince turned the key, and at first a clicking sound made him fear he had snapped it. Instead, the stone split, the surface flipping up like a lid, held to the other half by some cleverly disguised hinge.

Niklas was amazed at what he saw. On the bottom half of the exposed surface, the natural patterns of the geode formed an unmistakable image of a face, a sleeping boy. Niklas thought it must be a painting, but the image was undeniably part of the rock.

On the top portion, the underside of the “lid”, another image, not at all like the one below. Niklas didn’t know who the boy was, but he recognized this likeness. Its twin rose above the horizon, visible even from where Niklas stood now.

“The White Spire,” Niklas whispered.

(To be continued!)

Botaran Night Before Christmas
by Eidan

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

All the stockings were hung by the closet with care,
We don't have a chimney, it'd foul up the air.

Then all of a sudden there arose such a clatter,
“It's not Christmas yet,” I thought — “Now what's the matter?”

Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a blue kid named Toben, and some green kid, I fear.

I couldn't believe it, so I called to my Mom,
“I just got new glasses, but I think something's wrong!”

“There's either two aliens in our neighbor's backyard,
or the school that we go to has us working too hard.”

They paid me no heed, and went straight to their work.

but then “Happy Thanksgiving!” blurted one with a jerk.

And then putting a finger on a button or node,
he turned on some lights, then I saw them explode!

“Oh great! Now we've done it! Those were our Christmas lights!
I said we should check them, see, the volts are not right.”

“It's set to 3000, the most here is two-twenty.
All these lights would look great! Now they're not worth a penny.”

“Well it's too late to fix it, I suppose you were right.
so let's pack them back up, and we'll call it a night.”

Then all of a sudden there arose such a noise,
and as you can imagine, everyone blamed the boys.

But what to our wondering eyes should appear...
a miniature sleigh and eight tiny raindeer.

Jahv couldn't believe it, Toben stood there dumbfounded
“They don't call this Thanksgiving, this is Christmas, confound it!”

If you think that the boys were surprised, you should see,
The face of St. Nick, who stood there like a tree.

“I thought I'd seen it all — there were no more surprises!
Either you're a green boy, or those are good disguises!”

Then he looked in his pack and he winked at the boys.
“I bet you wouldn't mind if I gave you these toys!”

“Here, have some chocolate, and a book too, for you each.
I think you'll like this, it's a book called The Sneech.”

“You thought you'd surprise me, but you're still on my list!”
Santa pointed at Jahv, then he held out his fist.

“It's a voltage converter!” the boys both shouted then,
“from 3000 volts to a hundred and ten.”

“Don't have a blue Christmas, lest you have one that's green...”
“and a purple one too,” Keyro said, from in-between.

“I didn't forget you,” Santa added with a laugh.
“Here's a package of pencils, and a book that says Math.”

Now laughing for real, he said, “Though those thing are not bad.
If you thought I was serious, you must think I've gone mad.”

Then he gave him some chocolates, and some toys from his bag.
“and I have one more thing, 'cause I know you've been sad.”

“I couldn't believe how far I had to go,
just to find this one thing, there's just one place it grows!”

“The best fruit of all isn't found by your home.
As a matter of fact, there's just one place it's known.”

“So getting some here proved to be quite a task, alas...
on the world you call home, it's just grown in the palace.”

“A pink-faced man in a red suit, by the way,
who reached their main palace clear from here, in a sleigh,

was quite a surprise, so imagine their shock!
They just gave me the fruit, and they gave me a lot!”

“Oh, there's just one last thing,” Santa said with a grin.
It's a good set of lights. Take a look! Plug it in!”

“They're all different colors, not just one, like the rest.
Because that's what makes Christmas lights all look their best.”

“It's kind of like people, from Brazil clear to Maine,
how boring we'd be if we all were the same.”

“It's getting late boys, why don't you hit the sack?
I have to go now, but next year I'll be back!”

+++++++OR IN ONCE PIECE, with background, as initially published:++++++++
 BotaranNightBeforeChristmas-S.pdf
++++++++

Text and illustrations (except clipart) are copyright © 2011 Eidan. They're distributed under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Sharealike Unported 3.

By Schneehase illustrated and edited by Eidan
A story based upon the work of Niklas Edlund, "Heimweh (Homesick)".

Full Webpage as in the original post:
 CH1-From-Out-of-the-Rain.pdf

By Khaos

EDIT: working!!! Just a bit of cut&paste for the text, and drag&drop for the pics (those which were archived)!
Then… some day… the images would no longer display :( I had to find a severe trick to show them back. Going at it, slowly.

The Dark Past: Chapter 1: Just there and back again

Everyone stared at Keith.  Prince Arion raised one eyebrow.

Keith's mouth had begun to twitch.  Suddenly he realised that nobody else was smiling and his expression immediately became serious.  “What!!?  I was joking!  You mean those crazy aliens have really done it!?”

“Uh... yeah,” murmured Jahv, a little nervously.

Martin looked at Keith, looked at the expressions on the other boys' faces and then groaned, “oh no!”  He sat down heavily on the floor of the dome tent.  His last trip into space with the aliens had been both frightening and embarrassing.

“That,” remarked Prince Arion, “is exactly what Keyro said when he found out.”  His expression became... not exactly tender, but at least not as gloomy and brooding as usual.  His behavior toward his companions had become slightly more friendly and less stand-offish since Toben and he had joined forces to rescue the other boys from the renegade Botaran Magistrate, Varek.

“And I meant it,” inserted Keyro, still looking resigned.  “If there's some way to stuff up a new spaceship, my brother is the one to find the way!”  Jahv gave him a hurt look, prompting Keyro to add, “don't look at me like that!  We both know that your imagination exceeds your abilities.  I love you, but I'm being realistic and I wish you would too.”

“But now he has me and, immodest though it may sound, my imagination doesn't exceed my abilities,” Toben replied.

Keyro shook his head.  “You're a good engineer, Toben, but Jahv helped you to build the ship and I can't feel right about trying it out with our friends on board.  No matter how well you've tested it, something can still go wrong.”

“You aren't going to leave us?” Martin suddenly piped up, anxiously.  Everyone looked at him as he stood and walked over to Jahv and Toben, his hands out in an almost pleading gesture.  “I don't want you to go!  I'd rather go with you, even if you're going into space again.”  Martinseemed to have suddenly overcome his fear of space travel, although he also seemed to have the wrong idea of what the aliens were planning.

Jahv hugged Martin while Toben, who was not yet as comfortable with such a display of affection as the other Botaran boys, just put one hand comfortingly on Martin's shoulder.

“Of course we aren't leaving.  Not for good.  And we don't want to go on a journey — even a short one like this one — without our friends,” answered Jahv.

Keith groaned, threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, “okay, I guess we're going!  When and where and how long is it going to take?  I suppose we'll end up naked somehow, somewhere along the way but never mind that; it's a tradition that we always end up naked when we travel into space.  Why should this time be any different?”

This pronouncement was followed by a snicker from Keyro then a kind of choking sound from Morik as he tried to stifle his giggles.  After that, it wasn't long before the whole party was laughing.  Even Keith, although he felt that he had only been half joking.

Of course there was an argument about telling Davy's parents.  Davy at first insisted on telling them what was being planned and was supported by Prince Arion, who thought it disrespectful not to tell the adults.  The other boys pointed out that Davy's parents would probably flatly refuse to permit the Earth boys to go on the voyage.

Eventually, Davy decided that he should stay behind and then, since his parents were not directly responsible for the other boys, there would be no need to tell them about the journey.  Niklas and Jason then decided to stay behind to keep Davy company.  Morik never felt comfortable inside an enclosed space such as a spaceship and so decided to stay on Earth as well and to take turns with the others in monitoring the journey on the Botaran subspace communicator in the dome tent.  Martin was insistent on going so Keith was going too.  Fabian was in the mood for an adventure and so very much wanted to go also.  Prince Arion, in spite of his disapproval, decided that the honorable thing to do was to accompany his friends on the journey.

The new spaceship was garaged in an annex to the dome tent, accessed by a door from the main tent.  Like the rest of the dome tent the annex was, due to Botaran science, bigger on the inside than on the outside. It needed to be, since the spaceship was about four times as long and almost twice the width of the first ship which Jahv had designed and built (the ship which had, for some still-unknown reason, exploded shortly after landing back on Earth at the end of its first voyage into space, fortunately without harming anything or anyone else since Jahv had managed to put up a force shield around the ship before it blew up).

One thing which all the boys noticed was that the new ship was far more ornate than would be expected from the traditionally efficient but plain Botaran design.  The engine nacelles were the color of polished bronze and had spiral flutings along their sides, giving the illusion of great speed and power even while the ship sat motionless in the hangar.  The top and underside of the ship were silver with a wide, separating gold stripe in the middle.  The middle of the roof and the underside were embossed with a large, gold disk bearing the silhouette image of a silvereagle in flight, as seen from above.  The whole ship had been polished almost to a mirror finish and gleamed under the lights in the hangar, making for an impressively beautiful sight.

Spacesuits had already been replicated for everyone.  As the boys who were going on the journey changed into their suits, Jahv proudly described the ship.  “The basic design is a standard Botaran small commercial cruiser, similar in most respects to Toben's ship, but smaller.  We modified the design to give it more passenger space and less cargo space, and Toben made a few modifications to the engines to give it a bit more speed.”

“...and our resident Dorrian helped to make it look pretty,” finished Toben teasingly, grinning at Morik.  Like most Botarans, Toben felt that making a spaceship look ornate was rather a waste of time although secretly, he quite liked the results.

“I guessed Morik must have helped put it together,” commented Fabian.  “He's the one most likely to take the trouble to make a spaceship look nice.”

Morik shrugged and spoke in a matter-of-fact manner.  “I can't help it.  If I see something ugly, it gives me a feeling like pain.  I have to try to make it look better.”

“You did a good job,” said Keyro comfortingly, putting one arm around Morik momentarily and sharing a smile with him.  Keyro briefly glanced side-on at Keith, then made an elaborate attempt to look innocent.  Fortunately Keith didn't notice, otherwise he would have realized that something was 'going on' and that it involved him in some way.

The boarding hatch was near the front of the ship, directly in the middle of the gold stripe separating the silver top and bottom halves and the door bore a silver eagle image identical to the ones on the top and bottom of the ship.

“Why didn't you tell us you were building this thing?” asked Jason as they walked to the boarding ramp to see the others off.  “And how did you manage to keep it a secret all this time?”  He looked at Keyro, “Did you know about this?” then at Morik, “you must have known if you helped with the design!”

“Only in the final stages,” replied Keyro.  “These two conspirators,” (indicating Jahv and Toben), “managed to replicate most of the parts while the rest of us were asleep or outside.  Later on, we knew something was up but they just locked the hangar — we didn't know it was being used as a hangar, then — and said it was a surprise and to wait and see.  Eventually, Morik managed to sneak into the hangar when Toben left the door unlocked for a few minutes, then the secret was out.  After that, Morik helped with the design for the final fit-out and we all decided to keep it as a surprise for the rest of you.”

“More like a shock,” grumbled Keith in an undertone as Jahv ran up the ramp and stood just inside the airlock.  If any of the boys heard Keith's comment, they chose to ignore it.

“Welcome aboard the Silver Eagle,” announced Jahv as the others came to the foot of the ramp.  “Name suggested by Prince Arion.  He seems to have developed a strange affection for some of your flight-capable Earth life.”

“I wouldn't call it affection,” Arion replied as he walked up the ramp to enter the spaceship.  “I can't understand how anyone could feel affection for a creature which eats carrion, but I do admire the eagle's flight skills.  I've learned new flight maneuvers by observing them, while I had thought I'd already perfected my abilities.”  The other boys exchanged surprised glances as they followed him up the ramp.  Prince Arionwasn't known for giving praise, particularly in regard to his adopted planet.

“This will just be a short hop, there and back again,” said Jahv.  “We'll be heading out of the Galactic Ecliptic, for safety's sake.  No suns, planets or suchlike to bump into out there even in the unlikely event that something does go wrong.” Then he went on, “come have a look at the ship before we leave.”

“Out of the what?” asked Davy as the boys began the short walk along the passageway to the ship's control room at the front.

“Think of the Galaxy as being shaped a bit like two shallow bowls, one upside-down on top of the other,” replied Keyro, illustrating by cupping his hands and placing them palm-to-palm one on top of the other.  Everyone paused to listen to his explanation.  “Normally, we'd take a course which would keep us inside the area enclosed by the bowls since that's where all of the planets are, but if we call the bowl closest to Earth's north pole 'up' and the other 'down', we'll be heading up, which will take us outside the area enclosed by the bowls — outside the Galaxy.  Like Jahv said; there's nothing to run into out there in the Intergalactic Void, so it'll be safer.”

“It sounds dull,” commented Keith as they resumed walking. “Exactly the type of space voyage we could do with, after the last few we've been through!”

The boys entered the control room and stopped, open-mouthed at what they saw there.  Many of the controls were designed so that they included a model of the face or head of one of the boys.  Jahv and Toben both grinned at the sight of the other boys' stunned faces.  Morik was obviously trying to look innocent.  Jahv went over to the control panel and began pointing to various controls.

“This is the communications console,” said Jahv, pointing to a representation of Niklas's smiling face in the middle of the array of consoles.  “Here is the environmental and external sensor control panel,” — indicating a console just to the right of the communications console, colored the same shade of lavender as Keyro; “this is the navigation station,” — pointing to a green-hued control panel the shade of his own skin, situated just to the left of the communications console; “and these are the atmospheric and space-flight drive controls” he finished, indicating a Toben-shaded light-blue console to the left of the navigation console, on which just one handle had a face on the knob at the end — Keith's face.  There were other panels with other controls, but Jahv didn't bother explaining any of them.

“What's that handle do?” asked Keith, curiously.

Jahv coughed, obviously suppressed a smile then replied, “attitude control.”

Keith just stood there for a moment, his mouth hanging open.  There was a pause, during which every other boy in the cabin seemed to hold his breath anxiously.

Then Keith put his hand over his face, shook his head and broke into a chuckle, breaking the suspense.  The other boys soon joined in the laughter.

“I'll bet that was your idea, you cheeky Dorrian,” said Keith to Morik.  “Come on!  Confess!” he sighed, but with a smile.

“Sorry, I just couldn't resist,” apologized Morik, still giggling.  “After all, you do have an attitude but you also control it — at least when you're with us.  I thought it too appropriate not to do it!”  He giggled again before finally managing to control himself.

“And now,” said Jahv, still chuckling, “perhaps those who are staying should disembark and the rest of us can strap in for the Silver Eagle's maiden voyage?”

“I get the window seat!' announced Keyro, heading for the left (port) side of the ship.

“Hey,” objected Martin, “I wanted the window seat!”

“You can have the other one,” said Keyro, pointing to the other side (starboard) of the control cabin.  Farewells were exchanged as Niklas,Jason, Davy and Morik headed for the exit.

In addition to the seats behind the control panels, there were a total of twelve passenger seats in the wide control cabin.  The seats were in two rows of six and in groups of two, with space for more rows to be added, later.  Keyro took the window seat on the left and Fabian sat next to him.  The middle two seats were empty while Keith and Martin sat on the right.  Prince Arion preferred to sit in the second row and took the seat behind Keith.

With everyone seated and strapped in, Jahv and Toben went through a boringly extensive pre-flight checklist before taking off.

Finally, Jahv announced the last few procedures:

“Boarding hatch airlock door closed:  Check!”

“Boarding ramp retracted:  Check!”

“Hangar bay door, open...” (above them, the roof seemed to part like flower petals opening, revealing blue sky)  “... Check!”

“Cloaking field on:  Check.  Ready to launch, pilot?”

“Pilot ready:  Check!” announced Toben.

“Launch!” directed Jahv.

Toben operated a lever and the hangar seemed to drop away from the ship with surprising speed, vanishing completely as the ship passed through the cloaking field which kept the dome tent invisible to outside eyes.  At the same time, they were all pressed more firmly (although not uncomfortably) into their seats by the launch.

“Huh...” grunted Keyro, sounding surprised.

“What's wrong?” asked Jahv, turning to his brother.  Toben was in control of the ship, so Jahv could now direct his attention elsewhere.

“I thought I felt a slight gravity pulse when we took off,” said Keyro, sounding concerned but uncertain.

Jahv frowned.  “Are you sure?  That shouldn't be possible.”

“I know,” replied Keyro, “and I'm not really sure.  It was so quick.”

Jahv turned to Fabian, sitting next to Keyro.  “Did you feel anything?”

“Well, I might have felt something, for just an instant when we took off, but I didn't realise I'd felt anything until Keyro mentioned that he felt something.  What's a 'gravity pulse' feel like, anyway?”

“It's difficult to explain, but it's like the feeling you get when a car accelerates,” answered Keyro.  “You get pressed back in your seat until the car stops accelerating.  On a spaceship, the inertia dampers are supposed to reduce it to just a slight pressure.  It's not really gravity of course, but it has a similar effect so that's what we call it.  I thought that the pressure I felt was, for a moment, stronger than the inertia dampers are supposed to allow, but I'm not sure.”

Toben had been concentrating on the controls as the ship sped upward through the Earth's atmosphere, the blue sky darkening first to purple and then to black as the ship approached space, but he had also been listening to the conversation.

“Jahv?” Toben queried, “should we abort the test?  Just in case?”

Jahv thought deeply, scratching his head just in front of one antenna, but it was Keyro who replied.

“I'm not sure there really is a problem.  It was so quick, it could have just been my imagination.”  Punctuating this comment came an exasperated sigh from Keith and a rather sarcastic mutter of “never a dull moment".

Jahv only frowned at Keith but continued to scratch as he thought.  It could be nothing — but then again, it could be a serious problem.

Fabian added, “...and I don't think I felt anything at all.  I really don't want this voyage to be cut short.  This is an adventure!”

Jahv stopped scratching.  “Okay, we'll continue with the test but, Toben, make sure you stay on the conservative side of all safety standards, okay?”

“And I was wanting to see how fast this thing could go with the engine modifications I made to it,” lamented Toben, “but you're right.  Better to be safe than to be sorry, as the Earth proverb goes.  By the way, we've cleared the atmosphere.”

Jahv turned back to his controls.  “Plotting the course for warp speed,” he announced then, a moment later, “ready.”

“Uh, Jahv?” queried Toben, looking at the settings transmitted to his console from Jahv's.  “Do you realise you haven't set the termination interval?  Are you trying to reach another galaxy?”

“It's deliberate.” affirmed Jahv.  “Accelerating to warp speed puts a huge strain on the inertia dampers and decelerating out of warp does the same thing.  I figure if there's a problem with an inertia damper, it's safer to stay at warp speed while we fix it before trying to decelerate.”

Toben shrugged his agreement, then moved a control.  A bar-graph style display lit up with just enough bars to reach, but not pass, a mark on one side of the display.  “Ready for minimum acceleration to warp speed,” he announced.

There was a slight hesitation before Jahv instructed, “engage warp drive.”  Toben pressed a control, just as another half-sarcastic mutter was heard from Keith, “...angels and ministers of grace defend us,” which was the ending to a very old-fashioned prayer.

There was a rocketing whine from the engines and the stars became bright streaks of light in the windows as all of the boys were pressed back into their seats by the acceleration.  Suddenly there was a 'pop' sound from the extreme left of the control console and Keyro screamed, a rather strangled-sounding scream.  Fabian gave a stifled shriek, then was silent.  Jahv turned quickly towards them.  “Keyro?  Fabian?”  Keithand Martin were also calling out to them.

Keyro spoke in gasps, “Big... gravity... pulse!  Fabian... hurt!”

Jahv hit the quick release on his seat belt and ran over to the window seats where he opened a small container in the wall and took out a package of strange devices.  He waved one device near Fabian and Keyro in turn, watching a small display on the device as he did so.  Fabian was obviously unconscious.

“There's nothing seriously wrong with you, Keyro.  Just strained muscles and shock.  But Fabian has cracked and broken ribs and one has punctured a lung!” As he spoke, Jahv put on what looked like a pair of wraparound sunglasses from the package, quickly unfastened the front of Fabian's spacesuit then began waving two more devices over Fabian's chest, one device in each hand, peering intently at Fabian through the 'sunglasses' as he did so  A pale, blue-white glow came from each device and seemed to stream out towards Fabian's chest like a mist. The other boys had by this time undone their safety belts and were gathering around anxiously, watching what Jahv was doing.

Toben put the ship on autopilot and came over too, taking a similar package from the open container.  He took out of the package another pair of the 'sunglasses' and another device like the ones Jahv was already using.

“You do the ribs and I'll mend the lung and blood vessels,” said Toben, putting on the glasses and holding the glowing device over Fabian's chest, carefully avoiding Jahv's slowly waving arms.