Devon Blake and the Starship Crash Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 1

  “Devon Blake, seat call for Devon Blake,” the speaker on Devon’s WristVid said

  cheerfully. He looked around, startled that it was already time to depart the shuttle and board the

  starship.

  Devon pressed the button on his WristVid, letting the steward know that he was on his

  way. Devon’s luggage trundled after him automatically as he walked toward the large, round

  hatch that led from the shuttle to the space station. Despite the dozens of small, robotic legs

  frantically stepping underneath the bottom of the trunk, he had to wait for a moment before it

  caught up.

  “Hurry up, Sammy,” he uttered. “If you weren’t lucky I’d have replaced you long ago.

  What’s the use of automatic luggage if it slows you down?” The people passing by glanced at

  Devon, wondering why he was talking to his luggage. Devon swallowed a smile as he saw their

  reaction. Not many people could afford automatic luggage that responded to voice commands.

  Most people just had the kind that followed you around.

  Devon stared out the large, PlexiSteel window as he approached the hatch. A silvery

  tube stretched out into space, attached to the starship he was about to board. The Boadicea was a

  class V interplanetary cruiser equipped with the latest ion pulse engines. Devon could see the

  blue glow surrounding the rear of the ship off in the distance.

  The hatch whispered open as he approached. A tall, pretty flight attendant was waiting

  for him with a smile. “Right this way, Mister Blake.” She gestured for him to enter the boarding

  tube to the starship. “We are so pleased to have you aboard. All of the arrangements have been

  made for your trip to Forrestal.”

  “Are there many other kids onboard this trip?” Devon politely asked. The attendant paused for a moment, “well….yes, I suppose.” She smiled at Devon,

  waiting for him to make his way down the walkway in the tube. Devon shrugged and entered,

  trying to imagine that this was the start of something great. Unfortunately he could not help but

  remember how boring all of those other trips had been that he had taken on ships just like this.

  The attendant recovered from her momentary confusion, falling back into her rehearsed

  welcome speech. “You will have access to all of your exclusive gold-level amenities during your

  voyage. PulsarLines prides itself on providing our top clients with the highest level of luxury

  and privacy.”

  “Are there any other kids traveling in the gold-level?” Devon asked hopefully.

  The attendant looked puzzled, “You are the only gold-level passenger this trip, sir.”

  Devon sighed, obviously dejected. He hated traveling alone and being the only gold

  level passenger would just make it lonelier. Devon was used to being alone, but that did not

  mean he liked it. Before leaving, he had hoped that this time would be different. Sometimes he

  thought he must be the loneliest boy in the galaxy. He very rarely saw his parents, because of

  their busy schedules. They always made sure he had everything he wanted or needed, as long as

  it was not their attention. They were very busy running the family business, Blake Industries.

  Blake Industries made the best hovercars anywhere. Devon’s great-grandfather had

  started the company with a little money and a lot of determination. His first hovercar was a true

  breakthrough. Until Hugh Blake had invented the HippoGriff many people on the frontier had

  not been able to travel long distances without using gyrocopters or ultralights. Devon was proud

  of the company and knew that millions of people had easier lives because of it. His parents had

  important work to do, but that did not make being alone any easier. Devon was lost in his thoughts as he followed the attendant toward the starship. Before

  he knew it, he was at the entrance of the Boadicea. The attendant smiled sweetly at Devon and

  ushered him through the hatch. A steward with an equally pleasant smile was waiting for Devon.

  “Hello, Mr. Blake. We have your suite nearly ready for you; we just need to know how

  you want the holographic simulation today. What environment are you in the mood for?”

  “A Yukloth mud-pit sounds nice,” Devon quipped.

  “A mud-pit, sir?” The steward sounded unsure.

  “Yup, with extra squid-worms, if you please.”

  The steward hesitated for a moment, obviously wondering what to do next. The

  equipment used to simulate any environment in the expensive suites was easily capable of

  producing such a place, but why would anyone want it to?

  Devon let her suffer for a moment and then added, “Wait, I changed my mind. Set it for

  Camelot instead. That should be fun.”

  Relief washed over the steward’s face at the change to a much more conventional choice.

  She made a few entries on her WristVid and then looked up at Devon, completely recovered

  from her momentary panic.

  “ Mr. Blake, if you would follow me I can show you to your rooms.” She stepped on to a

  quickly moving pedway, making sure that Devon followed. It took only a few minutes for the

  efficient people-mover to get them to the most exclusive gold-deck and drop them at his room.

  The attendant wordlessly passed the key over the lock and waited for the door to swish open.

  With a few muttered pleasantries, the steward handed Devon his key and excused herself. She

  glanced back with a relieved look as she was whisked away by the pedway, obviously glad to be

  done with greeting Devon. Devon’s face turned a bit red, embarrassed that he had teased the woman. He supposed

  making sure someone with his means was satisfied was normally not very easy, but had not

  made her job any easier by being difficult on purpose. He sighed and walked through the door

  into his suite. The holographic equipment built into the suite had transformed the normally plain

  walls into the inside of an opulent castle. Torches guttered in sconces along the back wall and

  the sound of a harp could be heard coming from the next room. Swords, shields, and axes hung

  on the walls, lending the place a rustic, medieval feeling. One wall was taken up by the mounted

  head of a ferocious looking dragon. Devon smiled when he saw that. He often day dreamed

  about rescuing fair maids and slaying dragons.

  With another sigh, Devon flopped down into one of the overstuffed chairs in the living

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p; area. He looked over as his luggage struggled over a particularly thick rug, its motor whirring

  loudly.

  “Well, Sammy, I guess this is going to be just you and me.” Devon addressed the trunk,

  not expecting a response.

  “Not necessarily,” someone said in a strange voice. Devon nearly flew from his chair at

  the sound. He whirled around, facing the door to the sleeping area and beheld one of the

  strangest sights he had ever laid eyes on. A boy stood in the doorway, but not quite a boy. He

  had a larger than normal head, which was covered in thick, white hair. There was also

  something strange about his eyes, but Devon could not quite put his finger on what it was. The

  strangest thing, however, was the boy’s skin. It was bright orange, almost so bright it nearly

  glowed.

  Devon realized that he had been holding his breath. He let it out slowly and took another

  moment to study this intruder. He was wearing tight, grey overalls and some sort of black slippers that fit closely on his feet, almost like socks. The boy was not making any threatening

  moves, but that did not change the fact that he should not be here.

  “Who the heck are you?” Devon asked cautiously.

  “Flimitpoytrotilmas….Flim for short.” He answered.

  “So, what are you doing in my room?”

  Flim looked embarrassed for a moment, “Sneakin’,” he answered, “it’s kind of my

  specialty.”

  Devon thought for a moment. He could have this boy tossed off the ship in a matter of

  minutes for being in his room. But that would leave him alone again.

  “Sneaking, huh? Well, that sounds like fun. My name is Devon, and it’s gonna be a long

  trip. I could always use somebody to hang-out with. Did you find anything fun when you were

  doing it?”

  A huge grin split Flim’s face, “Lots of fun stuff.”

  “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to the fun.”

  Flim laughed and Devon joined in as they ran down the corridor, ready to explore every cranny of the huge ship.

  Chapter 2

  Jacinda Vasquez hesitated when she saw the young man whiz by on the pedway with

  another strange looking boy. She recognized the young man immediately as Devon Blake. She

  had known that he would be on this voyage, but it still came as a shock to her. With her parents’

  meager income, they never could have afforded to send her on this trip, not without the money

  that had been given to them by the Blake Foundation. She could not figure out why the

  foundation had decided to help fund her trip. She was not an especially good student, or an outstanding athlete. The e-message had mentioned something about an above-average score on

  something called the Ackerman Test, whatever that was. She did not even remember taking any

  test like that, but if it had gotten her this chance for an adventure, she was fine with it.

  Jacinda had mixed feelings about the boy. He looked nice enough, but how could anyone

  as rich as him be nice. When you had that kind of money, it just was not necessary. You could

  simply buy what you wanted without having to be nice about it. She also felt a bit of

  embarrassment about needing the money to go on this trip. Around her friends, who were mostly

  in the same situation as her, she did not mind being poor. But being around these people, she felt

  like she had a sign on her back that said “charity case.”

  She shook off those depressing thoughts and smiled widely. Nothing like a big smile to

  make friends.

  Just then, a group of four boys brushed by her in the passageway.

  “Watch your step, pipsqueak,” one snapped as he bumped into her.

  Jacinda spun around to face the boy, ready to toss a comeback at him, but stopped in her

  tracks. The boys had also turned around and they all looked like they were just waiting for her to

  say something so they would have a reason to make more trouble. She stifled a reply and looked

  down at the ground.

  “What’s wrong, Rags, nothing to say. You workers should be more careful around the

  guests.”

  “I am a guest too,” Jacinda snapped before her caution could stop her.

  “A Guest? You can’t be serious. You are dressed like a beggar,” the boy growled.

  “There is no way you could afford to be on this ship, unless you are a stowaway.” The boy crossed his arms in satisfaction when tears began to well up in Jacinda’s eyes. “What did I say,

  boys? She must be a stowaway.”

  “Yeah, Terry, a dirty stowaway,” one of the other boys agreed.

  Terry Jameson and the Gustav brothers were old hands at picking on other children.

  They had worked out their routine and knew just what to do to upset their victims, with as little

  effort as possible. Terry took special pride in his ability to pick out the most vulnerable person

  in any group. As the situation unfolded, they took a moment to watch the fruit of their labors.

  By this time Jacinda was wiping her face furiously, trying to stop the tears. Seeing her

  distress, the boys began to laugh even harder.

  By this time, the altercation has attracted the attention of a small group of children. The

  growing crowd seemed to feed Terry’s satisfaction at her humiliation. Suddenly the hurt that

  Jacinda felt turned into anger. She had had enough of this abuse. She reached into a pouch

  fastened to her belt and felt around for something to throw at the boys. Her hand settled on a

  small can of fizzup.

  The can looked small, but actually contained about a liter of sweet, fizzy soda. When it

  was poured out of the can it was supposed to change into its liquid form, but Jacinda did not plan

  on pouring it out. With a furious flick of the wrist, she shook up the can and pointed it at the

  group of boys. They had only a moment to look surprised before Jacinda pressed the release on

  the can and all of the soda spewed out on the boys, covering them with sticky, sweet smelling

  liquid.

  All of the other children gathered around the disturbance began laughing, pointing at

  Terry and the three others. Jacinda flashed a satisfied smile at the boys. “Oops, how dreadfully

  clumsy of me.” Terry nearly choked with rage. This was not supposed to be how it worked. The girl was

  supposed to run away in tears, not douse them with fizzup. Two of the Gustav brothers, Link

  and Junior, were not so much mad as shocked. Their younger brother, Merrell, on the other

  hand, was neither shocked nor angry. In fact, he found it rather funny. The idea of this slim girl

  shaming her tormentors with a can of fizzup made him laugh out loud. Merrell immediately

  liked her. Seeing that the others did not seem to find it funny, he swallowed his grin, stifling

  another laugh. Link and Junior turned on Merrell, giving him a double look of annoyance.

  Finally recovering from the surprise, Terry glared at Jacinda, rage twisting his mouth.

  “You’ll regret that. I’ll have the captain put you in the brig until you learn how to treat

  your betters.” Terry spun on his heals and strode down the hallway away from the laughing

  children. Link and Junior looked at each other and then hurried after Terry. Merrell looked

  confused for a moment. With an embarrassed shrug to Jacinda, he turned and followed his

  brothers.

  With the retreat of the bullies, several children in the crowd began to clap and cheer.

  Soon the whole group joined in the applause. One girl clapped Jacinda on the shoulder.


  “Good show. Terry and his goons go to the same PrimeSchool as I do, and nobody ever

  stands up to them. By the way, I’m Maddie.” The girl offered her hand to Jacinda. “What is your

  name, or do you want to be called ‘Rags’,” she asked with a smile.

  “Jacinda, my name is Jacinda,” she replied, unsure what to say next. Normally she did

  not lose her temper like that. But this time it seemed to have worked out well for her.

  Maddie clapped Jacinda on the shoulder again “Well, I had better get my luggage to my

  room. Maybe we will see each other tomorrow at the briefing. Bye.” Jacinda waved goodbye and turned to go back to her room. She picked up her threadbare

  luggage on her way to her compartment. She knew she needed to hurry. She had a reception to

  attend as part of her trip. All of the children from important families had been invited to the

  reception. She had been included because her trip had been sponsored by the Blake Foundation. She just hoped that Terry had not been invited as well.

  Chapter 3

  Plates and glasses clinked as the ship’s staff completed the preparations for the reception.

  Devon had invited Flim to come, just so he knew he would have someone to talk to. Most of the

  other children were intimidated by Devon or by his family’s wealth actually. Even the families

  of the wealthy children who were scheduled to attend the reception did not have as much money

  as Blake Industries. In fact, Devon’s family probably had more money than everyone else on

  board, combined.

  Devon dug in his pocket for the plasfilm sheet containing the guest list. One name had

  been highlighted, Jacinda Vasquez. According to the e-message Devon had received, Jacinda

  was very bright, but very poor. His parents’ foundation had paid for her passage on this trip. If

  she did well, there were plans to help her parents pay for tuition at a top off-world school, but her

  parents did not know that yet.

  Devon pressed the girl’s name on the plasfilm sheet and a beam of soft light projected an

  image of her face above the sheet. Devon studied it for a moment. She was actually quite cute,

  he thought. The thing that impressed him the most, however, was the determined look in her

  eyes. She had the look of someone who you could always count on.