The Royal Genies – Chapter 01_(2)

Author’s message: This is a sequel to my story “A Boy and his Genie”. If you’ve not read that already, go and read it. There WILL be spoilers in this story for A Boy and his Genie.

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Many people believed that the human race was doomed to extinction. That in the not-too-distant future, we’d have wiped ourselves out. Far fewer ever dared to believe that humanity would live on, and that it would grow to be so much more than anyone ever thought possible.

But it did. The human race went out to the stars, and it conquered. It established colonies on every planet in Earth’s solar system, before it went beyond. It formed alliances with alien races, and conquered more. By the turn of the 41st century, Earth’s empire stretched across 12 galaxies, with only good diplomacy on other people’s parts keeping their armies from conquering more planets.

Of course, they had their fair share of enemies, and in the year 4045, Earth was in the middle of a war with the Dreth Empire, which was trying to re-claim a series of planets which Earth had taken from them nearly 300 years prior. It had been a bloody conflict, but these were the closing days, and Earth was on the brink of yet another victory. 18-year-old Reylos Senti was not fighting in this war. Reylos Senti was working for the postal service. Specifically, he was on work experience with one of the intergalactic postal craft. It was a small craft, so as to not draw the attention of anyone who might which to rob it. 20 crew on board, delivering the post to the outer reaches of the Empire, and Reylos had the honour of running errands for them all.

“Where’s that boy with the drinks?” Asked the ship’s captain.
“Right here sir, right here,” Reylos said as he ran in carrying two cups of Martian Red Tea.
“No sugar, I hope?” The captain asked.
“Of course sir,” Reylos replied. The captain was from Rilgar, and Rilgarians could be made horribly ill by sugar. There was a beep from the console, and the captain looked at it.
“One minute until end of hyperspace,” he said. “Get out of here, Earthling, I don’t need you distracting me.”
“Yes sir,” Reylos said, ignoring the captain’s use of that terminology, figuring that it was best not to report his superior for breach of the company’s policy on racism. Reylos walked down the corridor, and before long, he heard the engines whirring, as the hyperdrive was deactivated. A few seconds later however, the alarm was sounded.
“All crew to their seats!” He heard the 2nd officer say over the intercom. “We’ve come to the wrong place!”

Reylos of course ignored this warning, and ran down to the observation room. He peered out the windows, where he saw that they’d emerged from hyperspace right in the middle of a battle between Earth and Dreth.
“What’s happened!?” Screamed the captain at the rest of the crew in the cockpit.
“We must have mis-set the hyperdrive co-ordinates!” Replied someone.
“Well re-set the co-ordinates!” Shouted the captain. “Before we get blasted to bits!”
“Captain, we’re a civilian vessel, they won’t shoot us,” said the 2nd officer, right before the ship was hit by a stray blast.
“Get us out of here!” Screamed the captain.

Back in the observation room, Reylos had been knocked onto the floor by the blast, and he was practically catapulted across the room by the sudden jump to hyperspace.
“Captain, we’re flying without hyperdrive co-ordinates,” said the 2nd officer. “We’re away now, so may I have permission to leave hyperspace?”
“Permission granted,” the captain said, but before anyone could do anything, they heard the sound of the engines failing, and the ship slowly falling to normal speed.
“Sir, the engines are too damaged to continue.”

They all looked at the viewing screen, and saw that they’d come out in orbit of a planet.
“What planet’s that?” The captain asked. “Is it one of ours?”
“I don’t know,” the 2nd officer replied. “But the engines are offline and we’re heading straight for it, so we’ve been grabbed by it’s gravity, so we need to prepare for a crash landing.”
“Alright then,” the captain said, before speaking over the intercom. “All crew to make their way to the stasis chamber immediately for a crash landing.”
“Captain…I can’t get the doors working,” said the 2nd officer.
“What do you mean!?”
“The button’s returning an error. The system must have been damaged in the blast. The cockpit and crew’s seats are locked. I can’t let any of us out to get to the stasis chamber.

The stasis chamber would put the members of the crew into cryogenic stasis, only releasing them after the impact of the ship. That way, even if the ship was completely destroyed, the ultra-hard materials of the stasis chamber should be able to withstand this, and protect the frozen crew within. Reylos, having not been in his seat when the doors were sealed, was able to follow procedure and run to the stasis chamber. Inside he found the usual things; enough food supplies to keep the crew alive for several weeks, a device to send a distress signal, and a few packs of various tools to aid with survival.

Reylos closed the door, but he didn’t turn the stasis chamber on, figuring the rest of the crew would be along shortly.