Space Knights: The Arrival by Gregory Samuelson (buy e reader .TXT) 📕

with the pets and other animals had a modular design with many of the same species in one unit. These units were equally equipped like the passengers deep sleep chambers. The animal escape pods would be expelled as well. The ship was just at the maximum distance for the chambers’ power systems to function properly and for the rockets to get the passengers inside to the world they were heading toward.

The ship’s computer turned the ship and went through its sequence to expel half of the passengers from the ship. The ceiling and sides of the ship opened an in a great rush the chambers opposite the Sondersons were launched out into space, and moments later their rocket packs fired and sped the chambers toward the planet and safety. Just then one of the explosive arrows hit the Sparrow XIV.

By a miracle, or due to the ship’s excellent design, the ship was only damaged near the tail. Unfortunately the ship now couldn’t move or steer. The ship had managed to turn just before being disabled and was about to expel the remaining passengers and pets toward the planet. There was a great jerk as Trance and his family, along with everyone else on their side of the ship and the animals, were shot out into open space. Moments later the ship expelled the crew in their chambers right before a third volley of arrows hit the ship, completely disabling it. Just as the Sparrow’s passengers and crew were beginning to race toward Althora, the Sparrow XIV was destroyed.

As the ship erupted silently in the vast emptiness of space, the blast wave went and caught up to several chambers from the Sonderson’s side of the ship, which were peppered with shrapnel. But the chambers had been constructed to withstand the blast of a catastrophic event, including the ship exploding. The blast wave expanded long enough to jog several chambers off course before the blast collapsed back on itself.

Two Althorian battleships were speeding into the area to intercept the Boulthorian ship and discover why it had fired upon an unknown and apparently unarmed ship. The Althorian ships were slightly smaller than the Boulthorian battleship, but they were equally armed and fired a volley of arrows at the opposing ship. By grace or divine intervention or even cosmic chance, a straggling escape ship that had lost all of its passengers and crew in the rapture back at Earth was hit and destroyed in the crossfire of the battle.

For ten minutes the great battleships fought, neither one backing away or giving an inch of space. Another Boulthorian ship approached to help its partner, but both of them had to finally retreat when four more Althorian ships raced in and peppered them. The first Boulthorian ship became seriously damaged. The Althorian ships then stood guard over the remaining Earth ships and tried to contact them to find out where they were from and why they were there. While they were unable to contact these strange spacecraft they decided to monitor them and wait. So far they did not appear to be hostile. The captain of the closest Althorian battleship quite correctly assumed that the very small craft now flying were a sort of live pods and were carrying the crew of the ship that had been destroyed.

By some miracle all of the Sparrow XIV’s passengers, animals, and crew survived the attack. Silently the chambers flew propelled by their rocket packs. However, due to the blast wave, they were now flying farther apart from each other. Unknowingly Trance was moving slowly away from the rest of his family. They were all headed for the planet; however, they would land at different locals. After a week the planet started to come into view. If Trance had been awake what a sight would have met his gaze.

Althora seemed to be very similar to Earth. There were three main continents taking up roughly thirty percent of the planet’s surface. The rest of the planet was made up of oceans and seas. The closer the chambers got the more detail could be seen. Soon mountains, rivers, and lakes could be detected. Althora seemed to have a very large Arctic area on the northern continent.

This arctic area then transitioned to wilderness, to mountains and plains, and then to tropical areas near the planet’s equator. The second continent was just as large as the first, but it was more centralized along the equator, with equal landmasses north and south of it. The third continent was more triangular with the wide end of the triangle along the equator. This continent had a vast tropical area that transitioned to plains, mountains, wilderness, and down to a small arctic area. On the planet’s southern pole was a fair-sized frozen island. Trance and his family were swiftly approaching the middle of the first continent.

The mountain ranges on the first continent were rather curious. There were six major mountain ranges that seemed to crisscross the continent with several smaller ranges between. There was one range however that was in the northwestern area of the continent forty miles from the Western Ocean and halfway up the continent. This unique range of mountains was arranged in almost a complete circle, known on Althora as the Crown Mountains. Above Trance in his traveling chamber was a fascinating array of stars and constellations.

Towns and cities could be seen soon and their lights could be seen from space. A random patchwork of farms, forests, small villages, small cities, and great metropolitan areas dotted the landscape. It was an incredible sight. The residents of the planet were quite startled at the approach of the Earth ships. The crews of the ships woke and were at first terrified to find themselves surrounded by very large alien space ships. Quickly communications were established and the crews explained why they were there. The Althorians were friendly and seemed eager to help the Earth ships and gave instructions and guidance to the crews.

Two days before the chambers