The Island on the Edge of Forever (The Epic of Aravinda Book 2) by Andrew M. Crusoe Read Free Book Online

location of Outpost 33, causing a red marker to appear in the darkness ahead. Through the mindcap, he saw an enhanced view of the outpost, appearing just as grey and lifeless as it had when he’d first seen it. Although now there was a cluster of debris in a wide orbit around it.
    The planet behind it was truly colossal, filling up most of his view. From this angle, he admired the glowing haze of atmosphere around it, forming a striking silhouetted shape in red and golden hues, set against a backdrop of millions of stars.
    The ship indicated that most of the asteroids in range were shaded by the planet, making them invisible to the eye. He could easily see the disk of asteroids, an uncountable collection of tiny objects, haloed in a blue light by the ship. And for the first time, he realized the truth of Outpost 33 and the asteroids nearby: they were all part of a vast planetary ring.
    The sheer obviousness of it made him laugh as he admired the edge of the ring. How could he have not realized it the first time he was here? Then again, the marauders had made sure their arrival was free of any quiet reflection. When they’d first arrived they had been swarmed by their narrow, menacing shapes.
    At the time, they had seemed more biological than metal, and later Yantrik confirmed their suspicions. They were a rare kind of spacefaring life form, and for them, starships were a good meal, which made life around the Outpost Ring a constant struggle.
    “Navika, do you detect any marauder activity?”
    He waited, but there was no response.
    Something was clearly wrong. While he could control most functions of the ship without talking to Navika, some of the more complex operations, like finding the wormhole, were much easier if he could explain the problem to Navika and have him figure out the best way to solve it.
    “Great. Why is it that things break just when I need them?”
    Zahn got up and walked back into the central node of the ship. Nothing seemed unusual, and he walked under Navika’s nucleus and looked up. The sphere still hung about a meter above his head, and green and purple flecks of light spiraled within its shimmering core just as they always had. He studied the braided cables that led from the nucleus to each of the three corners of the ceiling, noticing something through a narrow gap in the cable mesh that simply shouldn’t have been there.
    Perched high atop one of the braided cables was the odd, bird-like creature that the Amithya Council had given them on their last quest. Even though the jagrul would have only been considered a small bird on most worlds, Zahn knew better.
    “Jagrul, down!” Zahn pointed to the floor, but it only stared back at him silently, its voluminous black pupils unwavering.
    “Come on! What are you doing up there?”
    It let out an angry squawk and ruffled its green and blue feathers at him. Yet despite its appearance, Zahn knew how exceptional this creature was. Just as the elevator back at the observatory didn’t belong to any single floor, the jagrul didn’t fully exist on any single level of reality, and without its help, they would have been truly lost during their last adventure.
    “What’s wrong with you? Are you—” Zahn noticed a small hole beside where the cable entered the ceiling. It was just big enough for the creature to get through. “Oh, great. Have you been hiding in there? And where’s your food? We left a whole pile! I guess you eat faster than we thought. Sorry about that.”
    Zahn disappeared into the command bay, returning with a seed packet. “Here,” he said as he emptied it out onto the floor.
    The jagrul jumped down and munched on some of the seeds, and Zahn noticed that its legs were covered in a white powder. “You’ve been nibbling on the ship, haven’t you? But how? Navika’s hull is nigh indestructible! That’s why we were keeping you in here. Hold on.”
    After walking back into the command bay to turn off the ship’s gravity, Zahn