Frozen Enemies by Zac Harrison

by one the ships took off, some wobbling a little, but all successfully joining Ms Vartexia’s ship. When John’s turn came, he tried to remember how he had felt during the examination. “You are a part of the machine,” he muttered to himself, touching the controls. The Privateer lifted from the deck. He moved his fingers. “Computer, match velocity of Hyperspace High plus fifty,” he said, as the ship zoomed through the open bay door.
    “Velocity plus fifty.”
    Gently, John turned the craft so that it was heading along the same course as Hyperspace High and fell in with the small queue of waiting ships.
    “Launch successful,” said the computer.
    John looked around. Taking up most of the view was the vast, elegant bulk of Hyperspace High, glittering with thousands of viewing windows. Like mosquitoes flying alongside an eagle , he thought to himself.
    The headmaster’s voice broke in on his thoughts. “All ships away. Thank you, sergeant. I’ll take them from here.”
    “Jegger signing off. Safe trip.”
    “Initiate LightFast engines and set course for Archivus Major,” the headmaster told the small fleet.
    “Computer: display astrometric location, initiate hyperspace engines, and set course for Archivus Major,” John ordered.
    Complicated readings appeared on the ship’s shell to the right of John’s view, along with a detailed diagram of Archivus Major.
    “Coordinates laid in, ready to jump,” the computer told him.
    “On my mark,” said Lorem. “In three, two, one... mark .”
    “ Initiate jump .” John was scarcely able to breathe with excitement.
    Instantly, the small spaceship leaped forward. From the sci-fi movies he’d seen, John expected that a leap to faster-than-light speed would mean all the stars streaming towards him at once, while G-force pressed him back in his seat. In reality, there was a lurching feeling of suddenly reaching a great speed. Hyperspace High disappeared in a blink. Then everything was almost disappointingly normal. Stars passed by – that much was true – but there were no special effects. John had asked Kaal about it once and had been answered with a bewildering speech about dampening fields, quantum astrophysics, and differential drives. John hadn’t understood a word of it.
    “All present and correct, Ms Vartexia,” the headmaster’s voice said. “Arrival at Archivus Major in three hours and eight minutes. Students, you may now activate communication relays and talk among yourselves.”
    Kaal’s voice came through the ship’s intercom immediately. “You get a great view from the cockpit of a Privateer, don’t you?” he said.
    John had to agree. In most of the ships he’d flown in, he’d only been able to look through windows. But since the Xi-Class Privateer’s whole shell was clear, it felt like he was floating through space. John felt himself relaxing as he looked around with new wonder. Not for the first time, he had to remind himself that this was no dream. He really was piloting a spaceship through the galaxy hundreds of light years from his own world.
    “You can magnify stuff, too,” Emmie chipped in, as they passed through a solar system. “Take a closer look at the planet to the left.”
    “Computer: magnify view of the planet at coordinates seventeen point six point zero zero two... Wow .” John gawped in wonder as a view of the planet’s surface appeared on the ship’s skin. A vast ocean of skyscraper-tall waves was being lashed by a hurricane. Here and there great spouts of water whirled into the planet’s upper atmosphere.
    “Hey, magnify twenty-three point nine point three zero four,” Kaal interrupted.
    John gave the command. A new view filled his screen: a spaceship shaped like an enormous disc and blazing with light. Through a clear dome, similar to Hyperspace High’s, John glimpsed blue water lined with sandy beaches and lush greenery.
    “Yarvene pleasure cruiser,” Kaal told him. “Very, very expensive way to get