Jump

       The Celestial Eclipse rose up, higher and higher into the clear azure sky.  Scarlet trees, brown roads and Selah's white house got smaller and smaller, fading into the overall forest-green color of the landscape.
       "I'm glad we told our parents goodbye already," Mitsuko told Takashi, as they watched the cockpit viewscreens.  Takashi closed his eyes and nodded.
       Tiras leaned against the back of the cockpit, chewing on a piece of jerky, watching the sky grow darker through the windows.  Kelphus and Selah were talking in low tones by one of the doors, as Kelphus explained to Selah what had happened.  Skylar had his hands firmly on the control sticks, watching the monitors and dials.
       "Transmission coming in," said the computer.
       "Go ahead," said Takashi.
       A male tenor voice came over the radio.  "Starship SEP-967SXL, callsign Celestial Eclipse, this is the Bureau of Spaceflight.  You are required slow to docking speed and prepare to be boarded, as you are in violation of ordinance 7765."
       Skylar rolled his eyes.  "Same ruse, I bet."
       "Computer, does their ID match up to the Spaceflight Bureau?" asked Takashi.
       "No."
       The voice repeated.  "Starship SEP-967SXL, callsign Celestial Eclipse, this is the Bureau of Spaceflight.  You are required slow to docking speed and prepare to be boarded, as you are in violation of ordinance 7765."
       Takashi sighed in exasperation.  "Skylar, jump to the Vantares system before they attack us."
       "Roger that."  Skylar pushed the throttle forward.  "Computer, we're going to Vantares.  Start crunching numbers."
       "Starship Celestial Eclipse, slow to docking speed imme--"
       "Silence!" shouted Takashi into the radio.
       "Ready to jump!" said the computer.
       Green laser bolts sailed over the cockpit.  "Punch it," said Takashi.
       Skylar hit the flashing green button on the panel in front of him, then his eyes went wide as he turned to Takashi.  "Oh flip."
       "What?"
       "You and I are the only ones who've been through a jump before."
       Pure white light flooded the cockpit, then the light split apart into all hues of reds and oranges and yellows and greens and blues, mixing together and breaking apart, sailing backwards, then forwards, then swirling, then slowing, lining up evenly, then all mixing together into a final white light, which shrunk and faded into a single star.

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Leaving the Nest

       "We've been attacked by the Eclipse crew at the landing bay!  We need backup!  Gyaa--"
       Skylar squeezed his trigger and a blue bolt of light scorched the last gangster's wrist, ruining the comlink.  "Let's get out of here before more show up!" he shouted to Mitsuko and Takashi.  He pressed a button on his wrist computer, and the entry ramp dropped down from the ship's underside.
       Tiras, still on the balcony, saw the bandit Mitsuko had landed on start to get back up.  Hardly thinking, Tiras swung his body over the railing and dropped on top of him.  The bandit dropped back to the ground with a groan.
       "Sorry, man."  Tiras pushed himself up and ran to the entry ramp.  He had to duck to avoid hitting his head on the way up into the ship.  Kelphus was waiting at the top with a raised eyebrow.  "What's going on?"
       "Welcome aboard the Celestial Eclipse," said Mitsuko, as she pushed the button to close the ramp.
       "Computer!" Skylar shouted as he sprinted up the ramp to the cockpit.  "Get this thing in the air!"
       "What about Selah?" asked Kelphus quickly.
       "We'll have to pick her up on the way out."  Takashi ran up the ramp after Skylar.

---

       Selah bounced in the front door of her house.  "I'm home!"  

       "Me too!" called a voice from the kitchen.  Selah skipped down the hall towards it and found her dad sitting at the table with a fork and a bowl of diced fruit.  

       "So, Selah, umm, don't you think this space trip is awfully short notice?" he asked, stroking the curled end of his large grey mustache.

       "Yes." Selah sat down next to him and put her arms on the glass that covered the black wooden table.  "But Takashi has been planning this for a few months.  He has every little detail worked out."

       "So why didn't he invite you sooner?"

       "He didn't find out until last week that he needed to find his own crew.  They told him they would assign him a team and then they went and changed their minds on him."

       "Hmm."  He took a bite of fruit and stroked his mustache again.  

       "If I stayed here, I'd just be applying for jobs and college."  Selah pushed her golden hair back over her shoulder.  "I don't have any commitments.  And I'm getting paid for going on this."
       Selah's mother came in, carrying a small leather bag in both hands.
       "What do you think about this space trip?" Selah's dad sat up straight and looked to her.
       She sat down next to Selah. "When do you leave?"
       "Tomorrow mor-" The sound of her cell phone ringing cut her off.  She pulled it out to see.  "Oh, it's Mitsuko.  I'll put her on speakerphone."  She pressed the button.  "Hi, Mitsuko!"
       "Selah, we got attacked on the launch pad and whoever's behind it is after us.  We're in the air now and we're going to pick you up from your house in five minutes!"
       "But, I haven't got the groceries out of my car or anything!   I just got home!"
       Skylar yelled in the background.  "We'll just pick her whole car up!  There's room in the hold!"
       "Okay."  Selah took a deep breath.  "Good thing I'm packed already.  I'll be waiting in my car in the driveway."
       "Alright!" said Mitsuko.  She hung up.
       "I guess I'm leaving now, then."  Selah scooted her chair back.
       "Well, take this," said her mom, handing her the leather bag.  Selah undid the button and gently poured it out into her hand.  It was a thin golden chain, with a diamond-shaped pendant attached.  In the middle of the golden pendant was a deep-blue sapphire, cut to the same shape as the pendant, that had a white light shining from inside of it.  Selah could feel the energy inside of it; it was almost like holding a gallon of water in one hand, that would flow into her body as soon as she willed it.  It was the energy that powered magic.
       "A mana gem," whispered Selah. "Thank you."
       "They're not easy to find," said her dad.
       "I know.  I... need to get going."
       They all stood up, and Selah hugged both her parents in turn.
       "I'll keep in touch, okay?" she said.  Her parents nodded, and Selah rushed out of the room.
       Her parents lingered, taking each other's hands and watching the entrance.

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Wanted

       Tiras leaned his large, muscular body against the balcony's glass railing and studied the sleek starship on the landing pad beneath him.  The ground was about ten feet below, and the ship rose up to about twenty feet above him.
       "It's shiny," said Tiras.
       Mitsuko laughed at him as she leaned on the railing herself.  "Is that the extent of your analysis?"
       Tiras shrugged.  "It has some big guns on it."
       "They look like mining lasers."
       "I guess.  Who are those people hanging around down there?"
       "I don't know..." Mitsuko brushed her black hair out of her face.  "I have a bad feeling about this."
       "Takashi and his pilot buddy should be here any minute.... and Kelphus is probably still on the ship.  Do you think we should go down there?"
       "Takashi's there."  Mitsuko pointed at the entryway to the ground level.  "Let's see what happens."

       Takashi and Skylar blinked as they stepped into the skylit landing bay.  Takashi walked forward, frowning, towards the first blue-uniformed person that was standing in front of his ship.
       "Are you the owners of this ship?" the man asked gruffly, studying Takashi and Skylar with a superior air.
       "Yes.  Who are you?" asked Takashi.
       The man pulled a digital tablet out of his jacket and started talking.  "We're from the Bureau of Spaceflight."
       Takashi furrowed his eyebrows, clenched his right fist, and muttered an incantation under his breath. "Karusvari solemtavar."
       Behind him, Skylar stepped back and counted the strangers around the spaceship. There were five, and they all looked too athletic to be bureaucrats.
       The man with the tablet kept on talking, not paying attention to Takashi.  "We're here to inspect your spacecraft per ordinance 8D-ISUR3.  We are going to have to take you to our office downtown and discuss the results of our inspection--"
       Takashi cut him off.  "Let me see your ID."
       The man looked up from his tablet down at Takashi.  "What?"
       "Your ID.  To prove that you're from the Spaceflight Bureau like you say you are."
       The man rolled his eyes and reached behind him.
       "Hyaaa!"  Mitsuko leaped off the balcony on top of the closest 'bureaucrat', who had pulled a pistol out of his jacket and pointed it at Takashi.  The man talking to Takashi had pulled out a pistol too, but he turned, distracted my Mitsuko's yell, and Takashi opened his right fist and grabbed the man's shoulder.  The man twitched and crumpled as electricity coursed through his body.  Skylar whipped his own blaster pistol out of its holster and nailed the third gangster's hand,  causing him to drop his gun.  All this happened in the few seconds it took Tiras to realize what was going on and yell, "Those are bandits, not bureaucrats!"

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Summoning

       “Karivasa dorukun karukun tavis-loraea...”
       A stream of golden light poured from his half-clenched hand, settling upon the lines and runes that formed a circle on the steel floor before him.  He continued his incantation.
       "Talkuran karavisa vikira soran...”
       He lifted his hands into the air, and thick, silver mist billowed out of the center of the glowing circle.
       “Kalcuran verasa siranus...”
       Beep-beep beep beep beep-beep boooop!  Distracted by the 8-bit ringtone of his cell phone, he dropped his hands and bellowed the first words that came to his head.
       “Terrana malaphashus!”
       There was a sound of a pebble being skipped across the water, but he turned around and answered his phone before the mist cleared.
       “This is Kelphus.  What do you want?”
       A cheerful girl’s voice answered him.  “Hi, Kelphus, it’s Selah!”
       “Oh.”  He nervously scratched the brown mane on the back of his head.  “Hi, Selah.”
       “I’m sooo excited!  I can't wait for takeoff!  Okay, what was I going to call you about?  Oh yeah!  I needed to know what kind of bread you want.  I’m at the store to buy our food right now!”
       “I like whole wheat bre--”
       “Okay!  Is there anything else I should get for you?”
       “Umm, cheese.  The kind that’s yellow and white and shredded.”
       “Mm-hmm.  Okay.  I’ll see you later!”
       “Bye...”
       Kelphus put the phone back in his pocket and turned to see what he had done.  A small grey fish was flailing around in a puddle of water in the middle of the circle.
       “Computer, what is that?” he asked.
       “That is an Atlantic salmon, from the planet Earth.  It’s commonly used as food there.”
       Kelphus walked into the circle and stood imperiously over the fish.  “You are not the creature I intended to summon.”
       Its flailings were growing weaker and less violent.
       “I don’t even know how I summoned you.”
       It twitched one last time.
       “But you’re from Earth, huh?”
       It stayed still.
       “Earth...”  Kelphus looked up, his eyes not focusing on anything.  He was about to leave this planet, on a journey to who-knew-where.  Maybe they would land on Earth at some point.  He had heard some of the most spectacular legends of that place...
       The salmon and the puddle dissolved into a grey mist, which dissipated into the air.
       “Yeah.”  He looked down again.  “Go back to whatever body of water you were swimming in.  Enjoy Earth.  I bet someone hungry is going to greatly enjoy you.”
       He stepped back, out of the circle, and paused to focus on his breathing.  Then he began again.
       “Karivasa dorukun karukun tavis-loraea...”

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