Excerpt From Pulsar’s Wish: That’s No Moon

by Abraham L.

The Solar Core sped through hyperwarp at full speed, even with several thousand tons of Hellbot squads on the Core. Of course, weight, gravity, and a few other things didn’t matter in hyperwarp, due to the fact that it is an in-between universe that connects other universes to each other, and each universe had their own physics. I briefly glanced outside, gazing at the endless black void with occasional swirls of white light. I turned away and gave the Solar Core’s control center a better look.

Rows of screens blinked their ongoing commands reflecting their radiant shadows across the low wall filled with chairs and desks. Screen images scrolled across the screen matching the Solarian engineers’ commands. Raetharax sat at the station with the biggest screen, cycling through different views of the battlestar. The command panel sat smack-dab in the middle of the room, with an orange holographic projection of the Solar Core floating above it. A steady hum came from the projection as it slowly spun around in a circle.

Ganthor, Onslaught, and Erevintís were dashing frantically around said command panel, pressing buttons and hammering on keyboards. I walked over and peered at one of the screens. “What are you guys even doing?”

Ganthor huffed while typing a string of numbers. “Trying to keep us from getting transferred into the wrong galaxy, Pulsar. And dimension. And reality. And-”

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “Okay, I think I get it. How far are we from the Solar System?” And are we even going to make it to the Solar System? For all I know, we’ll get ambushed and blown to pieces in the next ten seconds. 

Onslaught peered at one of the screens while holding down five buttons at once. “We’re approaching the Avatar Arm right now. Passing through… Hold. Erevintís, run a gravity pull test for me.”

The Solarian began typing on another keyboard. “Hull pressure’s stable. No excess pull on any of the plates… Hold. Nevermind. There’s a grav beam coming from…” His eyes widened. “A Contagion battlestar in hyperwarp. Dang it, I forgot their weaponry works here.”

Hm, I guess we’ll get blown to pieces in less than ten seconds.

Raetharax jumped in his chair before beginning to put digital targets on the War Screen. “Sir, Contagion fighters attacking the Solar Core! Deploy Helldivers?”

Darkstar made the decision for the Solarians. “Deploy! Get Bulwark out there with them. We’ll need his Colossus mode.”

Ah. Maybe we’ll survive this one.

“Will do, Darkstar. But I’ll need the Solar Core to speed up.” Bulwark appeared on the screen while firing his arm cannon in the general direction of the Contagion battlestar. ” If I Colossify with the current speed we’re going at, the Core is going to suffer some damage.”  

Or maybe not.

Raetharax growled. “The battlestar still has a grav lock on us. We’re slowing down pretty fast and can’t speed back up. We need to stop that grav flow, and we can’t use the Core’s weapons to do it ‘cause we’re in hyperwarp.”

Ghost smirked and warped away in a flash of light. A moment later, the battlestar’s grav beam shut off, and numerous explosions erupted on the side of it. The starship tried to right itself and flee, but three more humongous explosions ripped the control center apart, and the battlestar exploded in a shower of debris. Ghost warped back with a maniac smile on his face. 

Darkstar facepalmed. “You and your suicide drones.”

Ghost shrugged. “I can always just take longer.”

I broke out of my thought bubble and held up my hands. “No-no-no, I think you did it fast enough.”

Ghost smirked. “Maybe a little too fast. Next time, I’m going to let you all get sucked up by the Contagion before I save you.”

I continued holding up my hands and elbowed Darkstar in the side. The Second Elder flinched before hurriedly apologizing. “Okay, okay, sorry. You can use your drones as much as you like.”

Raetharax was still pounding on his console. “Too late now. The battlestar seemed to have fulfilled its role already: bringing us into the Avatar Arm.”

Raetharax subsequently yelled at the crew members. “Brace for transition! They’re pulling fast and hard!” 

Everything flashed white, and we were all plunged into darkness a split second later, before appearing in the Avatar Arm again. I blinked, expecting to see scorched planet fragments and utter destruction; instead, I saw Solaris, the planet that should have been broken into a thousand pieces.

The three Solarians stared wide-eyed at their home planet, one that they had blown up during their escape from the Contagion. Onslaught, however, took a deep breath and began hacking into the nearby Contagion battlestar.

“Warning. Unidentified battlestar detected in Solaris Airspace. C-404, permission to exterminate?”

A more lively and intelligent voice sounded over the comms. “I know that one. Silence it. Quickly.”

Reaper walked in, stared at us replaying the message, the Solarians rushing around, pressing buttons and yelling at the bridge staff, the re-constructed Solaris, and the Contagion battlestars moving to engage the Solar Core. He turned to Hakk-R, who had also walked into the room. “Fight scene?” 

The cyberintrusion agent nodded. “Fight scene.” 

Darkstar clapped his hands together and said, “Ghost, go get Tempest and warp him, Hakk-R, and yourself to any of the battlestars. See if you can blow them up or something.”

I froze and stared at our acting leader. “But… there are people on that ship.”

Erevintís shook his head. “Actually, Pulsar, the Contagion doesn’t post any of its infected units on their battlestars. A lot of the systems on their ships are automated, and the rest is maintained and guarded by remote-controlled robots.”

I nodded. “Ah, okay. Ghost, you can blow up as much stuff as you want.”

“YAY! Okay, guys. Be back soon. I’ll warp back to you guys after all the battlestars are gone.” Ghost placed his hands on one of Hakk-R and Tempest’s shoulders. “Everyone ready?”

“Wait, I’m not-” Hakk-R said before they disappeared in a flash of light.

Onslaught sighed. “Ghost needs to calm down sometimes.”

“Let him live a little,” Darkstar said. “He probably does the most work out of all of us, excluding Erevintís.” We all nodded in affirmation, and Onslaught grumbled something before returning to the control station. 

We all heard an explosion from outside, and one of the little targets on Raeatharx’s War Screen disappeared.

Erevintís glanced at Darkstar while continually tapping on a screen. “Darkstar, the Helldivers and Bulwark are engaging Contagion fighters outside of the Solar Core. If the enemy battlestars are being taken care of, what do we do? We can’t re-enter hyperwarp for the time being, so we’re trapped in the system.” Another explosion sounded, followed by the sound of metal tearing. Two more targets disappeared on the War Screen.

Darkstar frowned. “Do we have enough energy to keep the Solar Core in space?”

Ganthor brought up a holographic diagram of a battery and began studying it as various tidbits of information appeared around the projection. “The actual core of the Solar Core is running on backup elytruim power. At most, we can survive in space for a few hours before life support systems fail.” Another blast. More ripping metal.

I sighed. “Alright, then. We get to see the subject of Contagion attention that’s been so for about six billion millenia.”

Raetharax sat back in his chair as multiple percentage bars slowly rose. “Don’t be so gloomy, Pulsar. We should be ready for atmospheric entrance… right about now.”

Ganthor nodded as a small tremor began to shake the Core. “Deflector Plates are locked into the outer mesh, Core Power Processor is running at minimum power. Heat shields are on and using sixty percent power.”

“Divert ten percent from stabilizing thrusters to heat shields,” Erevintís commanded. “Knowing the Contagion, they may have applied Kessler Syndrome to the atmosphere.”

“Command acknowledged,” Ganthor replied. “A.I. housing locked down. Quadrangle, run warning procedures.”

Ganthor’s personal A.I. triggered klaxons all over the Solar Core as we sat down in chairs and were strapped into them by the A.I. “Solar Core is ready to depart, sir,” came Quadrangle’s voice from a nearby speaker.

Erevintís nodded. “Thank you, Quad. Everyone, brace for impact. We’re going down.”

The world outside blackened, with only tiny lines of light dancing through the sky as we busted through the atmosphere. The pressure grew enough to knock all of us unconscious, and as we blacked out, one by one, a thought came into my mind.

What, exactly, is so important for the Contagion to rebuild an entire planet? What will we find down there?

As I considered the possibilities, I realized what they found, and that thought sent dread through my nerves. It was the last thought I would feel before we would be forever changed.

About the Author 

Abraham is a sixth grader who enjoys reading and writing sci-fi and fantasy books.