Radburn's Lifestyles: A Short Story

A distortion of light slowly travels through the evening sky just north of the capital city, Reynes.

Radburn guides the cloaked shuttle cautiously as to not create any friction between the hull and the atmosphere. Being found out could change everything they know.

Looking out the cracked windshield, the crew marvels at the size of Reynes. It’s so much larger than they would have imagined. Its tall glass buildings capture the setting sunlight, reflecting it back outwards in a spectacular display of dancing orange and yellow twinkles.

The harbor is packed with shipping vessels and sailboats. Vehicles are racing along the wide highways, transporting their occupant’s home after a long work day.

“It reminds me of New York,” says Brennus

with a smile.

“I’ve never seen it. New York, I mean… I guess I missed it while I was asleep,” jokes Radburn.

“Here! Six kilometers from Reynes,” interrupts Tris as she swipes across her display in a motion towards the main H.U.D.

The mapped out location highlights on the H.U.D. for Radburn to see.

“That should be far enough that we’re not discovered,” states Tris. “From these readings, this area hasn’t been occupied for over five hundred years.”

“Looks good to me,” replies Radburn and sets the final course.

Tris studies the database and finds some information about this location.

“Thule… This was the city of Thule,” she says. She reads on, “Thule, was an ancient city that had been abandoned for many centuries. Numerous populous of this time believed it to be haunted with the ghosts of long dead warriors,” she says in a haunting voice, mocking the text in front of her. “The abandoned city was the capital of Laestrygon, one of many countries that existed before the Great War and the new modern era.”

“Thule me your troubles…” Jokes Weylyn in his best spooky voice as he teasingly wiggles his fingers.

“Okay. It’s haunted, we get it guys,” says Brennus.

Radburn smiles. At least they’re in good spirits, he thinks as he watches out the windshield at the strange lands below.

The cloaked ship descends closer to the city ruins. The jungle had overgrown and retaken most of the bygone city.

Massive green and amber trees with broad leaves and sharp spiked trunks had sprung up in the center of once busy roadways. Their thick roots, uplifting the cracked pavement and growing over and through rusted out vehicles. Husky red and orange flowered vines have climbed up the crumbling walls of long since deserted buildings, creating living caves out of their host structures.

“There!” shouts Brennus while pointing out the window towards a large brick and stone building covered with the thick green vegetation. “That should be safe.”

Radburn checks the H.U.D. and sees no human life signs, just the various jungle creatures of a long dead world.

He touches an icon on his control panel and the ship slows further. Radburn twists the controls and maneuvers the shuttle around the prodigious trees towards a large opening in the side of the building.

As the ship hovers just outside the structure, Weylyn disables the cloak and Radburn flips the forward lights on. The darkened abandoned warehouse is lit up with a bright white light and various small winged creatures jump from their hidden roosts and fly quickly towards the craft.

The crew watches as the startled brown and yellow flying mammals with long split tails swoop past the ship and glide on their feathery wings into the thick jungle.

Radburn keeps the ship steady a few feet off the ground just inside the opening while Tris checks the structural integrity of the ancient ruins.

“It appears to be sound,” says Tris. “Wait… Stay clear of the south west corner. The ceiling looks really weak.”

With a silent nod, Radburn steers the ship further into the opening of the structure. The downward force of the thrusters stirs up layers of dust and decaying leaves creating small vortices as he spins the ship around to face the crumbled opening.

Radburn touches another icon and the landing claws extend out from the battle worn vessel. The claws make contact with the damp stony floor and extend outwards as the ship comes to a gentle rest.

The soft hum of the E.M. Drive dies as Radburn shuts down the propulsion systems. He unbuckles his safety harness and glances out the windshield. He notices a gryphon casually strolling by the breach in the crumbly stone wall.

“Look.” Radburn softly says while pointing out the cracked windshield.

The orange haired creature looks in at the ship with its namesake and open her sharp yellow beak, loudly screeching out. She lightly flaps her brown and red feathered wings as if readjusting them.

Several young griffons playfully trot after their mother as she turns away and continues her trek, disappearing into the dense, humid jungle.

Radburn smiles as he reaches down between his legs to pull the seat latch, allowing him to spin the seat around so he can look at his crewmates.

“How do we get home, to our home?” questions Radburn. “Thoughts?”

The crewmates all look down as is searching for an answer in an invisible technical manual.

“A black hole…” Brennus finally spits out. “If we could find a large black hole, we could circle the event horizon at maximum speed. Time will stand still for us, but rapidly advance outside of the horizon,” he suggests.

“I don’t think this shuttle could withstand the gravitational forces,” says Tris in a sarcastic tone. “It would eventually pull us in and rip this ship apart.”

“How did we get here?” asks Radburn. “Matter and anti-matter collided…” He leaves off.

“We need a Draco reactor!” shouts Weylyn.

“Or the schematics for one…” Tris says in a sly voice. “If we were to take a Draco ship… That would affect the time line… But, if we were to get our hands on the designs… We could try to construct one with much less impact.” She says with a grin.

Radburn smiles as he contemplates Tris’ idea.

“Gear up. We’ll head into Reynes and gather all the information we can, we’ll need supplies as well. If we have to split up, meet back here five days.”

“Understood!” energetically shouts the crew.

Radburn gets up from his seat and makes his way to the back of the large cabin.

He touches a button and a panel door opens reveling weapons and other gear. He pulls a small plasma pistol from its clipped in location on the wall and a small bag, prefilled with emergency supplies, like water and food.

The other crew members follow his lead and gear up as well.

Radburn opens the rear hatch of the battle weary Gryphus shuttle and steps out into an unfamiliar world.

It’s hot and humid, making it hard for the crew members to breath at first. Radburn removes his comm device from a lower front pocket and touches a series of icons.

“The atmospheric pressure is different than what we are accustomed to. Gravity is a bit stronger as well,” states Radburn.

He lifts his comm up higher and moves it back and forth in front of himself. The comm takes readings on everything from life forms, atmosphere and terrain.

“Six kilometers… We better get moving. It’s not too far, but the jungle is not the best place to be at night,” says Radburn.

“Maybe we should wait till morning?” questions Tris.

“No. If we’re going to going to try and get Draco schematics, we need to be there before they arrive tomorrow,” says

Weylyn.

“Agreed,” states Radburn. “Let’s go and stick close.” He says as he starts towards the crumbly opening.

As they move out of the structure, Radburn touches another icon on his screen and their shuttle cloaks.

The bewildered crew moves forward into the forsaken city, cautiously advancing into the unknown.

The evening Laestrygon jungle is not a quiet place.

Squawks from Stymphalian birds can be heard up high in the towering trees as well as the accessional grown of a Mngwa cat feasting on its prey somewhere in the distance.

Radburn takes the lead, following the direction given on his comm. One hand holds the comm while the other is stretched out in front of him gripping his plasma pistol.

The darkening jungle is dimly lit up in a soft yellow light cast by the two Atlan moons as it filters down through the dense canopy overhead. Radburn can see well enough, but Tris is very nervous. She tightly grips her plasma pistol in one hand and a flash light in the other. She has her fingers ready to switch the light on at the first approaching sound she might hear.

They quickly reach the edge of the city ruins and push forward into the thick jungle. The heat is more extreme than Radburn imagined. He remembered the stories, but experiencing it is a whole different thing. He holsters his weapon and pulls his black leather jacket off exposing his wet sweat soaked shirt. Radburn carefully folds his jacket and pushes it down into his backpack.

The others follow suit and then continue their trek through the thick

greenery.

Breaking the silence, Brennus finally speaks out. “It’s amazing that we are here, now. I mean, we should have been dead, but we’re not. We are here to witness a piece of history that has been mostly lost to time.”

Tris is still extremely nervous about the labyrinth of towering trees and thorny underbrush. She spins around at ever squeak and chirp she hears with her weapon extended. “I’m not very amazed at this jungle!” She quietly exclaims. “The Fenrir, don’t you remember the stories?”

Weylyn smiles. “The giant wolf, I would love to get one of them in my sites,” he says, pointing his pistol towards a large moss covered rock, motioning like he shot it.

“I don’t want to meet one,” nervously replies Tris.