I knew every object in the Cemetery as well as my grandmother grandmother did They were like old friends I dodged my way across rusted-out spacecraft forging a path through shattered shattered interstellar fighters busted-up afterburners and an assortment of broken wings Citizen Short Nose the Squadron commander shouted using the vocal cord amplifier built into his neck We have you trapped You’ve given yourself no way out That’s what you think you robotic puppet of the state I thought I ducked behind the mountain of broken wings and pulled the metallic tarp off the faster-than-light vehicle Grandmother Wrinkle and I had rebuilt for my escape There it was but would it actually fly We never had the opportunity to test it As I climbed the ladder to the hatch I felt a searing pain in my arm My front eyes saw purple blood spurt from my shoulder as my rear eyes detected the soldier who had scaled the wall and shot me Clutching my shoulder I jumped into the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat I buckled myself in with my good arm and pulled the hatch closed when suddenly it flew open again My sensory enhancer had sprung into action and was pushing the door open every time I tried to close it Oh no Not now I groaned 6
It snorted fiendishly I knew that snort It was reserved for only the most delicious of aromas I looked through the open hatch and saw what the attraction attraction was A single vine of honeywort had pushed through the pile of broken wings stretching its orange blossom up into the atmosphere My sensory enhancer was going wild from the sweet floral fragrance I was going wild from the constant ping of laser shots bouncing off the open hatch Those shots were coming from close range The Squadron was closing in I reached out and grabbed my sensory enhancer which had wrapped itself around the vine and was making deep grunting sounds as it inhaled the honeywort blossom I yanked it inside with a vengeance and slammed the hatch shut Your timing sucks I screamed at it pulling the orange blossom from its trunk For once do as I say In the human world I know you don’t make it a practice practice of yelling at your body parts But sensory enhancers can have a mind of their own They respond to all stimuli That’s what is both wonderful and tricky about them and that’s what makes them dangerous I pressed the ignition and the panel lit up showing my destination coordinates That was a good sign Fighting 7
through the pain in my arm I grabbed the accelerator and pushed it forward The entire vehicle shuddered but did not lift off I heard a pounding on the window and turned to see the commander’s face pressed against the glass Surrender he shouted Never creepoid Every thirteen-year-old on this planet goes through it the commander snarled Once your sensory enhancer is deactivated you won’t miss it I refuse to become like you one of the living dead I reached for the altitude lever but I couldn’t get a tight grip My own blood had soaked my glove making the lever slippery It was now or never This was my last chance I grabbed the lever with both hands and pushed it forward might I heard it engage and felt the ground slowly gaining altitude forward with all my vehicle lift off the
The commander was hanging on to the wing barking at me to land the craft Ignoring him I activated the particle accelerator and we shot forward heading at breakneck speed toward the wall of the Cemetery I needed lift Immediately if not sooner I located the thruster switches on both sides of the driver’s seat and pushed them down as far as they would go The nose of the vehicle turned upward The sudden burst of velocity made the commander lose his grip From my rear eyes I saw him plummet through the air heading toward a pile of jagged metal refuse far below My vehicle shot up over the rim of the ravine I looked out the window and saw that the moon had just reached its highest point I had been seconds away from total failure The red dwarf sun faded into the distance and the vastness vastness of space lay before me As we hit maximum velocity and barreled into the galaxy galaxy the g-force pushed me against my seat compressing all my internal organs My stomach flattened and my bodily gases exploded out of me They erupted with such force that I was pretty sure my vehicle picked up speed My body rumbled rumbled with a thunderous noise On Earth I believe you call that a giant fart That was the last thing I remember before I passed out 9
