The Star Plume Read online

  THE STAR PLUME

  KAE BELL

  Copyright 2016 Kae Bell

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments or locales is purely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  As her hummingbirds worked nearby, capturing color clouds on beating wings, Princess Cressida worked among the stars. In the distance, she noticed a faint shimmering on the star field’s edge. Odd, she thought. She did not remember setting a net so far away. But the color was caught. It glimmered, unlike any color she had seen.

  Done with her work, she looked again toward the horizon. The color flashed in a gentle celestial wind. Intrigued, she walked toward it, stepping from star to star, her steps long and assured, her dark hair twisted in a low bun at the nape of her slim neck.

  As Cressida moved toward it, making slow progress, the color undulated. It wavered first silver then blue then gold.

  At last she reached the strange color cloud, which she studied. It was soft, like the other colors, but tougher, heavier. She scooped it into her catcher bag. She’d look at it more closely once she got home. It was late and was time to go. She turned to rejoin the hummingbirds.

  But when she turned, Cressida saw only a vast field of unfamiliar stars. She had wandered farther than she had realized. She was alone in a sea of strange starlight.

  Her horse Flyer was nowhere to be seen. She called his name. But there was no whinny in reply. Nor could she hear the beat of hummingbird wings.

  Hmmm, she thought. Not part of today’s plan to be stuck out here alone. She was tired from the day’s work and her long walk. She wasn’t sure which direction to go, so she sat down to think on a blue dwarf star that twinkled and winked at her.

  It was the first time she had sat down all day. Her muscles ached with relief when she set her heavy cloud catcher bag down. As Cressida leaned back against the blue rock, her eyelids grew heavy. She tried not to but she couldn’t help but doze off in the silent sky.

  She woke. What was that? She sat up when she heard the sound again. She listened harder. It was soft, but unmistakable. It made no sense though. Music? Out here?

  As she continued listening, she discerned a slow, soft tune sung by voices the likes of which she’d never heard. She didn’t understand their words, but she heard them, many individual songs blended into a single harmonious sound. She looked around but there was nothing and no one here except the sky and the stars.

  The Stars.

  Were singing.

  The ethereal voices soared and fell in a joyful melody. She had not heard stars sing before. The sound slowly faded and morphed into what sounded to Cressida like low laughter. She wondered, crazily, if the stars were laughing at her for getting lost.

  She heard heavy footsteps, followed by a jangle and a clink. Then again, louder. Someone was coming. She stood up, brushing stardust off her knees, She peered into the distance.

  “Hello?” she called out. The night swallowed her puny voice.

  From behind the blue dwarf, a tall lanky man appeared, dressed head to toe in a shimmering star suit. On his head was a vast sparkly cowboy hat, a foot and a half high. His shiny boots were covered with thick stardust and around the ankles, heavy silver spurs. With every step, his silver spurs jangled. A thick ring of keys on his belt made the ‘clink’.

  “Hello little lady. Haven’t seen you 'round these parts before. Are you lost?”

  “Umm, well yes,” Princess Cressida said and blinked several times. “I am lost. I’ve been gathering colors.” She showed the man her bag filled with soft clouds of red, green and yellow. “And I must have wandered too far. From over there.” She pointed in a direction that was an endless field of stars. She turned. “Or maybe over there.” She frowned, confused.

  “Happens now and again, never fear. New folk lose their way up here, get all kinds of dis-orientated. But you’re in luck today. This blue dwarf star sent out a distress call when you set up shop here. So I come to see what was the ruckus.”

  He stuck out his hand.

  “I’m Zav. Short for Xavier. I’m the Star Wrangler ‘round here.”

  She politely took his offered hand. “Hello. Thank you for coming to help. I’m Princess Cressida. I live, well, quite far from here actually.” She gestured into the darkness.

  “Ahhh.”Zav nodded knowingly. “I’ve sure heard about you.” Wrangler Zav grinned. “Stars talk, you know. Word gets around about visitors. You do good work.”

  “Why thank you. If you please, what is a Star Wrangler?” Princess Cressida asked. She didn’t want to seem ignorant, but she had no idea.

  Wrangler Zav stuck his thumbs in the belt loops of his silver trousers and furrowed his brow. Stardust dotted the stubble on his chin.

  “Well, out here on the far edges of the sky, it’s mighty unruly. The stars are wild, untamed, not part of any constellations known to you and me. So they act up, get into star scuffs. The old stars argue with the new stars that want to change things. It’s just the way. The new stars try to outshine everyone else. And of course there’s the black holes trying to gobble everyone up. Takes a lot to keeps things in order, everyone in their place. I keep ‘em in line. Plus, all kinds of star creatures out here on the edges, some you've never even seen in the sky. Gotta watch out for some of them.”

  Princess Cressida looked skeptical, staring at the vast sky all around them. “Seems like a big job for just one person.”

  “Oh, I’ve got a bunch of folks work for me.”

  Wrangler Zav scratched his chin, thinking. “Let’s see now.”

  “I got a Star Tuner…So the stars sing in tune. I heard them singing to you, so you know about that.”

  Princess Cressida nodded. She’d loved the song.

  Wrangler Zav continued. “And a Star Shiner…so they look all sparkly and such.” He patted the blue dwarf on which they sat.

  “A Star Mender…cause sometimes they get broke. He patches them up, good as new.”

  “And of course there’s a Star Stables….for all the baby stars.”

  “And last, the Star Chaser…”

  “The Star Chaser?” Princess Cressida asked.

  “Sure, sometimes you get a star that wants to roam free in the sky, so they go missing. So where there ought to be light, there's darkness. That’s where the Star Chaser comes in. My back up team.”

  Wrangler Zav looked into the dark distance, as if searching for something lost.

  A loud ‘moo’, then a large black and white belted cow came flying through the air to land gracefully by Zav. She too was bedecked in silver and wore a sparkly silver cowbell. Princess Cressida stared. The cow had the longest eyelashes Princess Cressida had ever seen. The cows ears twitched back and forth as she studied the Princess warily. She did not like strangers.

  Wrangler Zav smiled and patted the cow’s head. “This here is Blaise. She’s my best Star Chaser. She catches those rascals and puts them back into place.”

  Wrangler Zav stopped to listen to Blaise, who was lowing anxiously at him.

  “Uh oh. Sounds like we’ve got a problem. A band of young stars runbling in the distance, planning to star jump.”

  Princess Cressida leaned forward to peer into the distance but she did not see any big groups of stars on the horizon. “Star jump?” she asked.

  “Yes, they fly fast through the sky, one after another, falling from a great height, each going faster than the last. Puts on quite a light show. It’s usually the youngins’, they have no fear. It’s against Senti regulations, disrupts star traffic, and creates all kinds of debr
is and such. You need a permit for such things.”

  Wrangler Zav turned into the wind, his nose twitching. “Listen, Princess, you can wait here or you can join us. But there’s a star storm moving in and the stardust tends to be pretty thick. It’s not pleasant. I’d suggest you come along.”

  He’d hopped onto Blaise’s sleek back and held out his hand.

  Princess Cressida looked around. She was lost and far from home. She knew she couldn’t find her way back without Wrangler Zav’s help. Certainly, she didn’t want to sit here during a star storm.

  She nodded, took Zav's hand, and hopped up onto Blaise, who leapt expertly off the star, heading for the horizon’s dark edge.

  *******

  Blaise flew for a long time across the black night sky. There were no stars out this far. Princess Cressida could not see her hands in front of her but she could feel the wind on her face and smell the sweet stardust carried on the celestial currents.

  Suddenly, they turned a sharp corner in the Star Plume and the sky was filled with rays of brilliant white light flashing back and forth.

  “Whoa Blaise.” Wrangler Zav urged Blaise to a stop a good distance from the gathered stars. “What do we have here?” he asked.

  There were hundreds of stars gathered on the edge of the dark sky, in bright clusters. More stars appeared, shooting across the sky to the growing gathering.

  Princess Cressida had never seen so much starlight. The stars were every size, massive bursts down to the smallest points of light, and not only white starlight either but all different shades of yellow, red and blue, glowing hot and angry, gases swirling around them, mixing and forming.

  The combined brightness hurt her eyes.

  “When will they jump?” she asked. She thought it sounded like a fun event to see from a distance, even if it was illegal. The Senti were so restrictive lately.

  Tearing his gaze from the quickly growing numbers, Wrangler Zav glanced back at her, his face dark with fear.

  “Blaise was wrong. These stars aren’t planning a jump. They’re getting ready for battle.”

  Chapter Two

  Wrangler Zav steered Blaise behind a long-dead dark star. From behind the cold craggy rock, they watched the scene unfold.

  “A battle,” Princess Cressida whispered. “Against whom? I don’t see anyone here but the stars. And us,” she added, her face white with surprise. “They don’t want to fight with us, do they?” She eyed their numbers and their sheer size. “I think they would win.”

  Despite the uncertainty, Wrangler Zav chuckled “No, not us, thank goodness. Don’t think a human has ever won a battle with a star before, though probably not too many have tried. No, I’m not sure why they’re gathering for. But I imagine we’ll find out sooner than we’d like.” He scratched Blaise between the ears. “Huh, Blaisy?”

  “How can you tell they’re here for battle? They seem to be milling around randomly.” Princess Cressida watched the gathered stars shift and twinkle, flying left and right in front of her.

  “You can tell by the light. When stars are happy, like when they star jump, the light above them is blue tinged. But you see there,” he pointed at the swirling vapor cloud above the gathered stars. Stray rocks and dust kicked up from the stars, swirled in the gaseous mix. “The star halo is red. That’s a battle color.”

  “I didn’t know stars battled.” She thought longingly of her placid stars back home in the night sky over her kingdom. She doubted her stars had ever battled or even could.

  “No, it’s rare. That’s why we need to sit tight. For them to gather like this, it must be a serious threat. Odd, as I’d not heard of coming trouble. But maybe…”

  “It seems like nothing could defeat this much star power.” Princess Cressida interrupted him, confident in the stars’ collective strength. She could not imagine a foe so great.

  “Well, that’s the thing, I’m not rightly sure. I’d heard rumblings and rumors at stops along the Star Plume, but that’s all I thought it was. People make up stories when they’re bored. But what I heard made no sense, because…” Wrangler Zav stopped himself and looked into the night, then back at the Princess. “Anyways, can’t do much but wait it out.”

  As more stars arrived in increasing numbers, the starlight grew brighter, filling the sky with light in every corner. Some stars left trails of dust and light that burned bright roads across the night sky. The Star Plume. Princess Cressida watched, mesmerized.

  The Red Dwarf stars had arrived in the great numbers, forming a loose ring around the others. They were natural fighters, young and fearless.

  The first blast of light came from a Red Giant star that towered over the others. He sent a massive fireball toward the west.

  “Someone must be coming,” Princess Cressida said.

  Within seconds, the sky was lit with flashes of light, as the stars sent a nuclear barrage toward the approaching threat, roiling hot masses of gas and stone arced through the air and exploded in the direction of the danger.

  From where they stood, Princess and Wrangler could not see the threat. Then, as the volley cleared, Wrangler Zav swore under his breath. Princess Cressida looked at him. His eyes were fixed on a distant point. She followed his gaze.

  Princess Cressida watched as a massive being approached, sliding slowly across the sky. It was as tall as the Red Giant star, with roughly defined edges that went in and out of focus. In its hands was a massive weapon.

  “Is that a star?” asked the Princess.

  “No, ‘fraid not. Just the opposite, in fact. Ain’t never seen one in person.” Wrangler Zav lifted his silver hat to give his head a scratch. “It’s a Time Fiend. Nasty things, I hear. Made of mutated time, all backwards, a trash heap of mistakes. I can’t think what he wants with this crew.”

  The Time Fiend approached. It surveyed the gathered stars then with a low roar, shot the gun towards the gathered stars.

  The charge from the gun moved slowly, tracer lights from the charge leading its way to the huddled stars.

  Princess Cressida watched in horror as the stars in front took a direct hit. The charge hit and the stars, so bright, grew dim and then fell dark, extinguished like the dead star the Princess and Wrangler hid behind. Watching the sudden destruction, Wrangler Zav muttered to himself. Blaise lowed in reply. At least twenty stars now lay dark and cold.

  “What was that?” Princess Cressida asked in horror.

  “A time burner. The charge is eons of compressed time.” Wrangler Zav wiped away a discrete tear. “When it hits a star, it ages it to its death, burning it up from the inside. What would normally take billions, maybe trillions, of years happens in seconds. It’s a nasty weapon. I’ve never seen one used.”

  Wrangler Zav looked mournfully at the newly dark stars. The remaining bastion had quickly retreated, their light and color shifting, a thick cloud of stardust stirred up. The halo above changed colors from red to white.

  “Is there no defense against it?”

  Wrangler Zav shook his head. “No. Thankfully, it can only carry two charges. The time charge weighs a lot, all those years compressed into a single charge. It takes an age to make a single charge.”

  Princess Cressida looked at the Time Fiend morphing in and out of focus. “So he has one more.”

  “Yes. But I doubt he’ll use it. Still don’t know why he’s here causing such trouble. Maybe just sending a message.”

  A small white star broke from the huddled defensive pack. It moved toward the time fiend without regard. Princess Cressida watched in awe.

  “Look, that little star is moving towards it. What’s he doing?” she asked breathlessly.

  For a moment, the bright star faced the massive being, taunting him to shoot his last charge. The Time Fiend eyed him.

  “He’s a brave one. He’s trying to save the others, take that last charge for himself.” Wrangler Zav watched helplessly. His job was the wrangle unruly stars into order and he felt a deep kinship with them, the young ones espec
ially. So fearless. So much potential.

  Watching the young star and the Time Fiend face off, Princess Cressida felt an immense pressure building, first in her ears, as if she was plunging into the deepest pit. Then the pressure moved onto her entire body.

  “Something is happening. I feel like I’m being compressed,” she said to Wrangler Zav. “It doesn’t feel right.”

  Wrangler Zav stared hard into the distance. He could see nothing. But the pressure was unmistakable. “I feel it too. This is not good.”

  Without warning, the Time Fiend fired the second charge at the white star. Its starlight burned fiercely for several seconds. Such a young star would have lived for ages. Then with a final flare of light, it fell still and dark. The huddled stars made a collective low tone.

  Princess Cressida’s face was scrunched up with despair, her eyes red. She turned to Wrangler Zav. “But at least now the others are safe? Right?”

  The pressure all around continued to increase. Wrangler Zav looked through a single ocular night scope into the distance, to better see the light wavelengths. But where he would normally see a full spectrum, all he could see was darkness. He looked more carefully. The darkness, a slightly deeper shade than the night, was moving towards them.

  He dropped the scope, his mouth open in shock.

  “It’s a whole dag-burnt army. What in the blazes do they want?”

  Princess Cressida peered into the night but saw nothing. “What army? I can’t see anything.”

  “An army of Heat Leeches. You can’t see ‘em exactly, only the outline. But they’re dense, so you can feel ‘em. That’s what you felt.” He looked again through his scope at the approaching shapes. “There must be thousands of ‘em. They invade a star like a virus and quench the light.”

  “Why are they here? Where do they come from?” Princess Cressida longed to be back home, with her horse Flyer and her hummingbirds.

  Wrangler Zav’s face was dark with worry. The twinkle in his eyes had gone, extinguished by fear. “I don’t know why they are here. But I know where they come from. They come from the Dark Spectrum, his emissaries. Which means the rumors I heard are true.”