Captain Bartholomew Quasar: The Bounty Hunters from Arachnxx Three: Captain's Log, #1

By Milo James Fowler

Captain Bartholomew Quasar and the crew of the Effervescent Magnitude are on their maiden voyage — and on the run from dangerous bounty hunters eager to collect a reward on the captain's head. 

 

Just when Quasar thinks he's escaped them, his ship is stranded in the middle of a heated civil war in an unknown corner of the galaxy. Quasar must rely on his wits, his charm, and his resilient crew in order to survive the ordeal that follows, culminating in an epic space battle where sworn enemies must join forces to repel an even greater threat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Effervescent Press
• Release date: Jun 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227623478

Book preview

Episode 1: Flight of the Magnitude

Jaw muscle twitching at untimed intervals, Captain Bartholomew Quasar gripped the armrests of his deluxe-model captain's chair and narrowed his heroic gaze. The main viewscreen on the bridge of the Effervescent Magnitude radiated with white-hot streaks blurring in elongated trajectories as his star cruiser plunged into the depths of space at something near the speed of light.

Quasar could feel the tension in the air. It was palpable and tasted like sweat—mostly his own. The members of his bridge crew remained silent, standing at their stations and staring at the viewscreen. Many forgot to blink as their insides trembled, recoiling with a nameless fear.

They had never moved so fast in their lives.

How long could the ship maintain this incredible velocity without compromising hull integrity? Already, the Magnitude was creaking and groaning in protest, and the helmsman—a very hairy, four-armed Carpethrian who resembled something between a sloth and an overweight orangutan—had begun to grumble that the recently installed cold fusion reactor should have been thoroughly tested before this full-speed leap into the uncharted black.

But there had been no other choice. Their options at the time were either flight (and survival) or fight (and undoubtedly be destroyed). Vicious Arachnoid bounty hunters were hot on their tail, and Arachnoids tended to be a very hungry lot, often foregoing payment for their illicit services in favor of a fresh kill.

The Magnitude's first officer, Commander Selene Wan, wasn't keen on the idea of allowing a Carpethrian to man the helm of their freshly minted star cruiser. But no one else on board knew how to navigate at near-lightspeed, and it took all four of the alien's hands to do the job—something two humans would have had to coordinate in tandem. And that could have gotten awkward.

Steady as she goes. Quasar smoothed down his close-cropped blond hair and cringed as the ship released a moan that didn't sound good at all—something akin to a whale giving birth. How are we doing, Hank?

Hank was the Carpethrian's name—or something close to it. The ship's translation software was the best that United World Space Command had to offer, but it hadn't experienced enough alien tongues firsthand to be without error. Its syntax and semantics were still limited by the sum total of Earth's human languages, and the Carpethrian tongue seemed to be made up entirely of Neanderthal-like monosyllables and deep-throated noises most humans would deem impolite, if not impossible to emulate.

Haven't run into anything yet, grunted the helmsman, furry hands flying across the controls.

Status report? Quasar half-turned to regard his first officer with a confidently raised eyebrow.

Commander Wan, a tall, slim Eurasian with impeccable posture, kept her attention riveted on her console. Proximity scanners are offline. She swayed on her feet with the rocking movements of the ship, her raven-black hair brushing across her shoulders like a silken curtain. Artificial gravity is holding. Life support remains functional. A sudden frown creased her usually furrow-free forehead. But the reactor, sir... We may have a serious problem.

Elaborate.

It's overheating, Captain. If we don't decelerate, it may— She swallowed. Explode.

That wouldn't be good at all. The folks back home were depending on Captain Quasar and company to bring back loads of quartz dust, necessary for virtually every form of technology and transportation on Earth—not to mention haute vintage time pieces. The Magnitude could not possibly be allowed to blow up.

Hank? Quasar faced the shaggy helmsman. Could we slow down just a tad?

The Carpethrian grunted something unintelligible, followed by, Commencing deceleration sequence.

Very good. The captain nodded, glancing over his shoulder at his first officer. Everything was under control. Of course it was. He never had any doubt about it. Status?

She shook her head without a word. Quasar checked the console on his armrest. The Arachnoid ship was nowhere in sight, and the Magnitude had begun to slow down, but by only an infinitesimal fraction of its near-lightspeed velocity.

Uh-Hank? About that deceleration sequence... Quasar cleared his throat.

It will take thirty minutes, Captain. Any sudden downshift in speed would tear the ship apart.

Quasar maintained a brave façade for the sake of his crew. Such was expected from starship captains, after all. Clenching his jaw, he leaned toward Wan and whispered, Do we have thirty minutes?

She met his gaze, and he didn't like what he saw in her eyes—something she hadn't shown before, not when they'd dealt with the horrible Goobalobs or the savage Arachnoids:

Terror.

Episode 2: Dead Stop

Captain Quasar pounded his armrest with a clenched fist and leapt from his chair, leaving it to swivel jerkily behind him as he groped his way across the heaving deck. Reaching the very hairy helmsman, he gripped the back of Hank's seat and leaned into the Magnitude's sporadic lurches like a flare-surfer on Paradiso 7. 

You can't be serious. He kept his voice low, aiming it toward what he assumed was the Carpethrian's left ear—but he couldn't be sure with all that fur covering the orifice. There's got to be another way to slow us down. He gnawed on his knuckles for a moment. Can we take the reactor offline?

Hank lifted one of the shoulders in his superior pair. We need the power to activate reverse thrusters.

"There won't be any reverse thrusters if we can't get it to cool down!" Quasar cursed, running a hand over his clean-shaven jaw.

When he was offered this assignment, he couldn't help but imagine the glory it would entail: captaining the first star cruiser to venture out of the Sol system and make first contact with Carpethria. For decades, Earth had been in long-wave communication with her only alien ally, yet there had never been a meeting between them in the flesh. But after the Goobalob incident, and with the Arachnoids in hot pursuit, and now this cold fusion near-lightspeed reactor threatening to destroy the Effervescent Magnitude less than a month after leaving space dock, Quasar was beginning to have his doubts.

Instead of a full-screen article in the Universal Encyclopedia of Human Knowledge, his exploits would be relegated to a brief blurb on how the initial cooperative efforts between Earth and Carpethria resulted in ultimate disaster!

Captain Bartholomew Quasar couldn't allow that to happen. Such was not his destiny. He would have at least one full-screen article—perhaps even three or four—devoted to his heroic exploits. This he believed with all his heart.

There's got to be another way. What sort of magic spins up a reactor in a matter of seconds but requires a full half hour to stop it?

"Magic?" What sounded like a derisive chuckle erupted from deep in one of Hank's throats.

That's what I said. Quasar glanced at the Carpethrian. Let me guess. You don't believe in it.

He didn't fully understand how the reactor worked, only that for centuries all the eggheads back on Earth had said cold fusion was science fiction (and very poor sci-fi at that). He was just glad to prove them wrong. It worked, obviously! But the concept of near-lightspeed had always struck him as being more supernatural than scientific.

Hank attempted to clear his twin throats, resulting in a slightly harmonic gargle. "On Carpethria, we believe in the predictable wonders of science. But I see how this sort of technology would seem magical to a less evolved species."

The captain bristled. If you weren't the only humanoid on board able to navigate at near-lightspeed—

Wasn't like I had much say in the matter.

He was right about that. When the Arachnoids attacked without warning, the Magnitude had just been outfitted with the new reactor, and the Carpethrian work crews had disembarked only minutes earlier. The last engineer on board, Hank had been finishing up some final calibrations on the navigation software in the helm console. He'd activated the control panel, checked its functionality for any bugs, and turned to leave without so much as a farewell.

The first Arachnoid incinerator blast had struck the bridge, killing two of Quasar's crew in an instant.

There was only one thing to do at the time: make the jump to