As they approached the ship a door at the back of it slid open and Thunderchild appeared.
"So…wotcha think of the Phoenix?"
Domino raised an eyebrow.
"The Phoenix?"
Thunderchild stepped forward out of the craft and tapped the engine mounts.
"It's what I've decided to call her, I thought it was rather apt."
Nagy, Proeliator, and Zidane walked slowly around the ship staring at it, Thunderchild chuckled to see their reactions of amazement.
"How can anything this big fly?" asked Proeliator
"It's all a matter of physics, and aerodynamics…besides once you're up in space…there is no down."
Nagy had found a long black scar on the red starboard wing.
"What's this…it doesn't look like it's supposed to be here."
Thunderchild sighed and nodded
"It's from the Borg…possibly a flash residue from a nearby energy discharge…a near miss in other words."
"A near miss did this!"
He nodded again.
"Yes…a full head on shot would have killed me instantly…the fighters aren't…weren't, that well shielded."
Domino could see that her husband was hurting slightly from the memories of his battle, she couldn't blame him…she had seen what the Borg had done, she knew how he felt…she felt it too.
"Come on…let's go…home." She said, pausing as she remembered that Terra was her home too, despite the fact she lived on Gaia…Terra was where she was made, and Terra was the planet she was designed to serve.
Thunderchild smiled and kissed her gently.
"Come on, everyone inside, there's more room in here than it looks from the outside."
They walked inside the ship and through a small section which looked very technical, and totally beyond anything Nagy or Proeliator had ever seen before. Thunderchild casually explained it was the engine room and contained a couple of beds should a long haul flight be needed…which it rarely had been.
Then they entered the cockpit, a tightly spaced area with two chairs for any co-pilots that should accompany the main pilot on the mission (which Thunderchild also explained was very rare) which usually folded out of the way when not in use.
Domino and Nagy took those seats while Zidane sat on one of the beds, Proeliator found himself a place to perch near one of the control panels.
"It'll take a while to get to Terra I presume…so try to make yourselves comfortable." Said Thunderchild, then he began flicking switches and powering up the engines. Then Domino saw him smile mysteriously and chuckle to himself.
Uh oh she thought…she didn't like the look of that smile.
"You know my love," he said, turning to look at Domino "We Terran fighter pilots used to have a saying that related to the type of music many of us liked to listen to." He turned back around again and hit a few buttons on a black box next to his chair.
"Oh yeah?" said Domino, uncertain to what he was getting at.
"Yeah…the saying went….LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!"
He slammed the throttle fully forward as rock and roll music blared into the cockpit at a loud volume.
The fighter craft's engines powered up with a shrill whine and then the Phoenix shot off at full speed, turning into a blur of white light as it shot at low altitude across the desert sands, whipping up a small sandstorm behind it.
Not far away a camel sat chewing its dinner from the day before and ignoring the rather annoyed tribesman trying to get it to stand up. Since most camels went by the name used most to describe them, this particular camel was known as 'You Bastard'…and he also happened to be the greatest mathematician on the Discworld.
So, it made a delightful change to calculating how much kinetic energy would be needed by his rear hooves to send that annoying tribesmen over the next sand dune when there was a low rumble which quickly turned into a high pitched shriek as something small and white shot past in the near distance at…about eight hundred miles per hour, at a altitude of approximately one hundred feet above the sand dunes…and it stopped that tribesman from kicking him as he dived for cover.
Watching the strange craft disappear into the horizon, You Bastard used what geographical knowledge he had to calculate the course of the craft, he put it on a bearing to Khot-Lip-Khin, capital city of Klatch.
Thunderchilds maniacal laughing was about the only other thing that Domino could hear above the pounding music, that was of course, in between the moments of extreme sickness she felt. Looking behind her she could see Nagy with a massive smile on his face and Proeliator hanging onto the back of Nagy's chair. Zidane and Mikoto in the far back seemed to have been thrown into the corner of their beds.
"Erm…T..C," she struggled to say "Don't you think we should slow…down a little?"
Thunderchild shook his head.
"This IS slow!"
Then he smiled as he spotted something on the horizon in front of them, within seconds they had plunged deep into a ravine, the sides flashing past them so fast that all Domino could see was a blur of desert coloured rock. She looked away for a moment to try and calm her rebelling stomach and when she looked back she saw a boulder had fallen across the ravine, the sides of which were now scant inches away from the edge of the wings. Thunderchild had seen it too because he called out:
"Whoa…under we go!"
Domino could only watch in amazement as the craft dipped through the gap between the boulder and the ravine floor, she could have sworn there wasn't enough room…did this craft shrink on order or something?
The sides of the ravine fell away and left a river snaking through the desert which they shot along at low altitude.
"Say…isn't this the Djel river?" asked Nagy
Thunderchild nodded
"Erm…that leads to KLK." Said Proeliator over the music which Thunderchild had turned down a little.
"Yep." He confirmed
"Thu…there are bridges in KLK!"
"I know."
Mihk-Gran-Bohp was one of the more grumpy residents of Khot-Lip-Khin, an outcast from the religious community he stalked the streets looking for people to shout at. At this moment he was crossing the bridge on the outskirts of KLK, muttering under his breath at whoever had just shouted nearby.
Something else caught his attention, a low rumble from the west which was getting louder. He turned and looked into the evening sun and saw something rapidly approaching low along the river drawing up a fountain of water behind it. Within seconds it shot underneath the bridge with a thunderous shriek of sound and then the water which it had dragged behind it fell on Mihk-Gran-Bohp. As Mihk stood soaking wet watching the craft skim underneath yet another bridge further down the river he glowered and knew that someone was going to pay for this!
Spying someone on the other side of the bridge who was laughing at him, he stalked over towards them.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" yelled Proeliator as he covered his eyes, Domino did the same and screamed as well when she saw the bridge approaching.
After a life ending crash failed to happen she pulled her hands away from her eyes and looked, they were now over the sea, still travelling at high speed.
"What..?" was all she could manage.
"We went UNDER the bridges! All of them!" yelled Nagy, punching the air with his fist. Proeliator groaned and nodded.
Domino took the opportunity to double back into the engineering room and check on Zidane.
"You alright?" she asked
Zidane groaned.
"Is he deliberately trying to kill us?" he asked
Domino shrugged
"I think he's having a little 'fun'."
Zidane groaned again and banged his head back against the wall.
"Are you sure you picked the right person to marry Dom?" he asked.
"Land approaching!" yelled someone from the cockpit so Domino patted the genome on his shoulder and hurried back to her chair just as they arrived over a green and pleasant land.
"Where are we?" she asked
"Now approaching Ankh-Morpork, this train does not stop here." Said Thunderchild with a smile.
"What!"
It was Corporal Nobbs turn to guard the city of Ankh-Morpork against invaders…or at least scare them away. Plucking the rolled up cigarette from behind his grubby ear he put it in his mouth and started patting his pockets for a match. A low rumble made him look up and through the opened gates in front of him…something was coming across the plains. Something very fast… his mouth opened in wonder, dropping the roll-up on the ground and then he was diving for cover as whatever it was flew low overhead, slamming him to the ground with the backdraft of its passing, he stood up again after a moment, ignoring the ringing in his ears and looked around stunned.
Havelock Vetinari sat staring at the piles on paper on his desk, and much to his annoyance they failed to combust or fade into non-existence. It was quite remarkable how much paperwork was needed to run a city, even a dysfunctional one like Ankh-Morpork, but as Patrician of the city, that was what was expected of him.
His paperweight, shaped like a dog started shaking slightly, with a raised eyebrow he watched as his whole desk began shaking.
"What the…"
There was a tremendous shriek of sound and all of the windows behind him exploded and imploded simultaneously, throwing the glass at him and then sucking it back out into the street. Then there was silence and as Vetinari began dusting small shards of glass off his desk he rang a small bell which had been knocked onto the floor. A second later a small head peered around the door.
"Yes your lordship?" it asked
"Ah…capital. Could you fetch me another glass of water please…mine seems to have shattered." Said Vetinari with a hurt look at the puddle of water which had formed on the only spare part of the desk which wasn't covered in paperwork…then again, that was now a sizable portion of the desk as the paperwork had transferred itself to the floor.
"Oh…and one more thing," he said as the door was about to close "Would you make a note to charge Thunderchild for the repair of six tall glass windows when he next returns to the Discworld? There's a good man."
"Was that the Patricians palace?" asked Proeliator as they dodged past a reasonably tall building and curved around heading for a point near the Ankh river.
"You're in trouble now." Said Nagy with a slow shake of his head.
"I don't think it matters much." Said Thunderchild with a smile as they reached that point and he pulled back on the throttle and the joystick at the same time, sending the craft into a steep climb.
Mizrah stood with a small group of others, Snikity included, outside the Mended Drum, staring in utter amazement at what was happening right above them. A small craft with red wings was looping the loop right above the Drum with a low rumble being made by its engines.
"What is it? Is it Jara?" asked someone in the crowd.
"No…I think it's Thunderchild." Said Snikity
Mizrah nodded
"I think our hero is going home." She said with a smile as the craft flew low and slow overhead one more time, doing a barrel roll as it did, then with a loud shriek it shot off to the east, following the Ankh river out of the city.
"Good luck Thunderchild." Said Mizrah quietly as the craft disappeared out of sight.
"That was pretty impressive," said Domino slowly "But please don't do it again."
"What's the matter?" asked Thunderchild flipping the craft upside down.
"Genomes weren't made to do," she looked at the speed indicator and gasped "eight hundred miles an hour!"
"And neither was I!" moaned Proeliator from behind them.
"Well…there's just two more places we're heading for…first stop is Uberwald." Said Thunderchild
"And the second?" asked Nagy
Thunderchild didn't reply, just smiled as he narrowly dodged the rolling mountains around them.
As the evening light began to draw in, two shadowy figures made their way down a hillside, moving as one with the gathering darkness around them, as they passed trees the singing birds within went silent.
The names of these two shadowy women, were Kitiara and Xola, but to the local villages they were known only as Vampyres, the demons of the night who came to convert humans to the shadows.
However, tonight wasn't going to be a normal night.
Their first indication of trouble was when the ground started shaking.
"An earthquake?" asked Kitiara in surprise.
A small white shape appeared over the brow of the hill and flew low over them, knocking both of them to the ground when the backdraft hit them, they flung their hands over their ears as the terrible noise hit them…and then all was still again, they looked up to see the shape dodge around another mountain and continue on its way towards the hub of the Discworld.
"What the hell was that?" asked Xola, her accent betraying her normal Morporkian life.
"Damned if I know…shall we carry on?" asked Kitiara, her fanged smile betraying the bloodlust she felt.
"After you shadow sister." Said Xola, returning the smile.
Xola's mind couldn't help but wander back to the battle of Ankh-Morpork which she had recently fought in, and that man she knew who had helped organise it…Thunderchild…he had come a long way since Kitiara and Xola had first ambushed the man walking late at night through the wrong part of the Ramtops. She had sensed something strange in him then, and during their friendship she noticed it even more…it was almost as though he didn't belong…and now she knew why.
"Say isn't that Cori Celeste?" asked Nagy
"Uh huh."
"You aren't thinking…"
"You wouldn't…you couldn't!" yelled Proeliator
"I am." Said Thunderchild with a smile.
Domino just stared at them.
"What!" she asked
At the top of the huge mountain of Cori Celeste, lies the home of the Discworld gods, the gods who play games with mortals lives. And at this moment, the game was taking a rather interesting turn.
"Tho…where ith he going?" asked Offler, the crocodile headed god
"It looks like he's coming here." Said Blind Io as one of his many hovering all seeing eyes zoomed in on the player piece of Thunderchild which moved towards the centre of the board that was a beautiful map of the Discworld. He was moving faster than most of the gods around the table were happy with, especially Fate.
"This man is cheating…he is not playing by the rules of this world!"
A hushed awe came over the other end of the board as someone else joined the game.
"Ah, the Lady joins us." Noted Fate.
The Lady smiled serenely, her real name never uttered lest she should quickly depart.
"I think that you will find that he is playing entirely fairly."
"Then how?"
A low rumble caught the attention of Offler.
"Thay, what ith that noithe?"
The gods looked up through the transparent ceiling of the room to the stars above, suddenly with a noise like a wailing banshee a white shape flashed past, sending deities scattering.
When the noise and chaos had subsided, they returned to the board to find the pieces for the three rapidly approaching Discworldians gone.
"Where have they gone to?" yelled Fate, hammering the board with his fists.
"I think you will find that our three companions have left the planet." Said Fate softly.
"Left the…? How?"
Offler put a scaly hand over his eyes.
"A thpacethip." He groaned
"Aw crap…one of them." Said Io
A collective groan went up around the room, no-one liked spaceships.
"What thay we uthe Rinthewind again?" said Offler after a while.
An agreement was reached and the game began again.
"Welcome to space." Said Thunderchild as they left the Discworld behind and the stars came out.
"I can't believe you buzzed Cori Celeste." Said Proeliator
"I had to make a dramatic exit didn't I?" said Thunderchild mischievously.
He swung his chair around and tapped in a series of commands into a keyboard next to him and then swung back to a computer screen in front of him.
"Yep…there she is…about half a days flight away. We should use this time to get some sleep really…we've got a long haul ahead of us."
Thunderchild tapped another couple of buttons and engaged the lightspeed drive, there was a whirring noise in the engine room and the stars accelerated into streaks of light.
"Whoa," said Nagy "What was that?"
"Lightspeed drive, we're now travelling faster than the speed of light."
Nagy went silent in awe.
He turned around and caught Domino's expression, she looked slightly ill.
"What's the matter?"
The genome gave him an evil look and threw her coat at him.
"What?" asked Thunderchild from under the coat.