Capítulo 1 

Grandes encuentros

“I have bad news,” announced Aurora, the ship’s artificial intelligence, as she materialized as a translucent hologram. Her black hair drifted softly around her face and her violet eyes remained fixed on Castor. The white tunic fell over her figure without answering to the ship’s gravity. Her voice retained its customary serenity, clean of any emotion.  

“Now what?” asked Castor, leaning back in his seat with a drink in hand. He took a sip without looking away from the projection.  

“Look at the radar,” she said. With a slight tilt of her head, she projected a warning panel above the console. “We are surrounded by hostile ships.”  

Castor watched the formation closing the perimeter.  

“Gnors.”  

He sat bolt upright. Some of the drink splashed onto the floor.  

“Switch to manual controls,” he ordered.  

“They are firing on us,” Aurora confirmed. A laser blast crossed space and shook the ship before she finished speaking.  

“Raise shields,” shouted Castor, gripping the controls.  

The impacts vibrated through the hull. The Centurion 1 banked violently, and Castor rolled her to dodge another shot that grazed the side. He completed a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree maneuver and saw what the radar was already warning. The enemy ships were closing the cordon from all directions.  

“We have a flee…” Aurora began.  

“I know… I know,” Castor interrupted as he watched the enemy formation deploy before them.  

Aurora kept projecting data and warnings beside the controls.  

“Ready the thrusters,” Castor ordered.  

“Without prior calculations, the probability of crashing during the jump into hyperspace or appearing inside a solid object is 99%. I do not recommend that maneuver,” Aurora answered with absolute calm.  

More ships were closing in at full speed. Escape routes were vanishing one after another.  

“Chances of surviving this attack?” asked Castor.  

“Zero percent,” Aurora replied.  

Lotus sank into his seat as he watched the encirclement with mounting anxiety. Castor smiled, seemingly amused by the statistic.  

“One will always be better than zero,” said Castor, winking at Lotus.  

“Don’t even think about it, bounty hunter!” yelled Lotus. He already knew what was coming.  

Castor pressed the control and initiated the jump to hyperspace.  

The Centurion 1 stretched under the distortion of the jump. The frame groaned and the roar of the engines built until it filled the bridge. Castor and Lotus were pinned flat against their seats while the vessel fought to maintain coherence in warped space. The passage felt endless.  

“Aaaahhhh! Aaahh!” yelled Castor and Lotus in unison.  

A brutal jolt signaled the end of the jump. The Centurion 1 dropped back into normal space at full speed, dead center in an asteroid field. Castor seized the controls and banked hard to clear a massive boulder. He cleared it by inches, but one of the lateral thrusters clipped another asteroid and the ship began to tumble out of control.  

“You all right?” asked Castor as he fought the ship back under control.  

“Still in one piece,” answered Lotus. Despite his eight-foot height, he had curled himself down as small as he could in the seat.  

Castor looked at Aurora.  

“Location and status of the Centurion 1.”  

Aurora remained still as she processed the telemetry.  

“My systems are recalibrating. We have exited known galaxy space, likely toward the uncharted frontier. One of the thrusters is malfunctioning. I recommend descending to a planet to perform repairs.”  

“Give me the coordinates of the nearest planet.”  

“I have identified a planet 0.2 light-years away. Course plotted.”  

The image of the planet materialized on the main viewer as the Centurion 1 moved toward it. Dark oceans circled large landmasses blanketed by heavy clouds, and silent lightning flashes lit the atmosphere from within. Aurora expanded the projection and swept the surface with the sensors that were still answering. She found no cities, no orbital stations, and no signs of space traffic. Nor were there any transmissions across any frequency recognized by Imperium.  

“Nothing,” Castor said.  

“Nothing my sensors can identify as technology. The atmosphere is breathable, but the cloud cover and the density of the canopy interfere with surface scans. Biological composition remains unknown. I recommend staying aboard the ship after touchdown until a full analysis can be completed.”  

Lotus looked at the planet and then at the damage readouts.  

“For once I agree with her. We fix the ship and get the hell out.”  

Castor checked the feedback from the controls. The damaged thruster rattled again, and a warning popped onto the console.  

“First we have to get down there.”  

“That does not reassure me.”  

Aurora turned her head toward Castor.  

“The descent trajectory will be unstable if the secondary thruster drops power.”  

Lotus pointed at the hologram.  

“See? Now she knows how to deliver good news.”  

Castor grinned and held the vector toward the planet. During the approach, the second thruster began hemorrhaging power and the Centurion 1 listed to one side. An alarm flashed across the board.  

“Thruster two at forty percent,” Aurora reported.  

Castor corrected the line.  

“We still have forty.”  

The readout plummeted rapidly before him. Thirty-two. Twenty-six. Eighteen.  

Lotus watched the numbers.  

“Stop counting.”  

“Twelve percent,” Aurora continued with the same flat calm.  

The thruster died, and the Centurion 1 dropped onto its flank. Castor hauled back on the controls and managed to bring the ship’s nose up before punching through the upper cloud deck. The hull began to shudder. An electrical discharge flashed across the viewport and another struck the starboard wing. The cockpit lights went black for an instant. When they flickered back on, several gauges were locked in red.  

“We have lost both main thrusters,” Aurora said.  

Lotus looked at Castor.  

“Tell me we have others.”  

“We have others.”  

Lotus waited.  

“Do they work?”  

“We are about to find out.”  

Lotus shut his eyes.  

The Centurion 1 broke through another layer of clouds, and the ground rushed up far below them. Jungle, mountain ridges, and river systems filled the forward screen while the vessel kept shedding altitude. Castor worked the controls. They barely answered.  

“Aurora, auxiliary thrusters.”  

“Insufficient power to sustain level flight.”  

“I don’t want to fly. I want to fall a little slower.”  

Aurora engaged the remaining systems. A shock ran through the frame, and the Centurion 1 stopped tumbling.  

“Probability of a successful landing: seventeen percent.”  

Castor studied the oncoming terrain. A grin spread across his face.  

Lotus turned toward him.  

“I hate that look. I hate that look.”  

A mountain loomed dead ahead. Castor hauled back on the stick, but the ship barely shifted its path.  

“Castor,” Aurora warned.  

“I see it.”  

The mountain kept swelling in the viewscreen.  

“Castor.”  

“I already told you I see it!”  

He routed all available reserves to the auxiliary thrusters. For a beat, nothing happened. Then the Centurion 1 responded with a sudden kick. The ship climbed just enough to skim the peak, so close that the tree crowns hammered the underbelly of the hull.  

Lotus clamped onto the seat.  

On the other side of the ridge, the jungle sloped down into a valley choked with colossal trees. Aurora projected a vector onto the viewer.  

“There is an area with thinner canopy cover two miles out.”  

Castor cross-checked their speed against the rate of descent.  

“We won’t make it.”  

“Correct.”  

He sized up the ground rushing up and adjusted the controls again.  

“Then we put her down right here.”  

“That is not a landing zone,” Aurora replied.  

“It is now.”  

Lotus opened his mouth to shout, but the Centurion 1 lost lift entirely.  

“Hold on!”  

The ship slammed into the canopy. The first boughs battered the hull and snapped under the sheer weight. Castor kept the nose pitched up as they tore through the vegetation. The first impact with the ground threw them against their restraints. The ship bounced and crashed down again. Dirt, torn limbs, and foliage were thrown out to either side as the Centurion 1 plowed a deep trench through the earth. A tree disappeared beneath the fuselage, and another slammed the flank before shearing in two.  

Finally, the vessel came to a halt.  

For several seconds, only the cockpit hazard sirens could be heard. Lotus slowly loosened his grip on the armrests and looked himself up and down, checking that he was still in one piece.  

“Someday I would like to touch down on a planet without being at death’s door.”  

Castor ran diagnostics on the systems that were still online.  

“Where would the fun be in that?”  

Lotus grumbled.  

“I will never understand what goes through your head.”  

Castor turned to Aurora.  

“Keep repair subroutines running on automatic. I want the Centurion 1 flight-ready as fast as possible.”  

Aurora nodded.  

“Repair systems engaged.”  

On the side monitor, several ship compartments flared red. Aurora calculated the structural compromise while Castor moved through the cabin, checking that the interior seals were holding. The impact had popped open service lockers and torn loose two ceiling panels, but the main pressure hull remained sound.  

“Estimated repair time,” Castor requested.  

“I cannot determine it with precision. Automated subroutines can stabilize the thruster assemblies, but several core components must be rebuilt before we attempt atmospheric escape.”  

Lotus got to his feet and surveyed the damage.  

“In other words, we are trapped.”  

“Temporarily,” Castor said.  

“With you, that word usually lasts until something blows up.”  

Castor popped a storage hatch and pulled out basic gear, a canteen, and the handheld scanner. Outside, something snapped heavy branches in the distance. The three held completely still for a moment. Aurora angled her head toward the sound, even though her hologram had no physical need to do so.  

“Unidentified movement at four hundred yards,” she reported.  

Lotus looked back at Castor.  

“And now you are going to tell me you want to go find out what it was.”  

Castor clipped the scanner to his belt.  

“I was going to say we need to know where we landed.”  

“Sure. Much more reasonable.”  

Castor tossed a quick look at Lotus.  

“Until she’s ready, I’m going out to scout the planet. Coming along?”  

Aurora spoke up before Lotus could answer.  

“I do not advise scouting the planet. We lack sufficient baseline data, and the safety of the perimeter has not yet been established.”  

Castor looked at her, amused.  

“Worried about me?” he asked with a grin.  

Aurora held his gaze.  

“I am stating the available parameters,” she answered. Her projection flickered briefly.  

Castor smiled and stepped out of the airlock. Lotus followed behind him.  

They scrambled up the embankment surrounding the vessel and found a thick, suffocating jungle. The air was thick with the stench of rotting foliage and damp earth. From deep between the trees came distant snaps, though nothing showed itself.  

From that point on, the brush closed in with every step. Beneath the canopy, the daylight shifted to a murky green and the heat climbed. Leaves wider than Castor’s chest spanned the gaps between trunks, and thick roots burst from the loam like low parapets. There was no trail to speak of, so they picked their way wherever the vegetation yielded.  

Lotus shoved a low branch aside, and a cloud of tiny insects with transparent wings erupted right in his face. The Harmock let out a growl, batting them away with an open hand.  

“Uncharted planet, crippled ship, and bugs trying to crawl into my eyes. Excellent pick, bounty hunter.”  

“You wanted to come.”  

“You asked if I was coming while you were already stepping out the hatch. That does not count as a choice.”  

Castor raised a hand. Something was moving through the timber. It was not close enough to spot, but the noise swept across the jungle from left to right, accompanied by the splintering of trunks. Then it drifted away.  

“That was big,” Lotus muttered.  

Castor looked up at the high branches. Several limbs had been snapped off high above the ground. Farther ahead, they came upon a tree sheared clean down the center. The wood showed no scorch marks or saw lines. Something had simply plowed through it on the move.  

“This is weird.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“Why is there a trench right in the middle of the jungle? And why is it shaped like that?”  

The hollow measured roughly sixty-five feet long, with one end noticeably wider than the other.  

“This place is… worse than I expected,” Lotus muttered as he stepped over a colossal root.  

“Come on, it’s just another jungle,” Castor answered, though he kept scouring the dirt.  

Castor dropped down into the bottom of the depression. The ground was harder there, holding small pools of water in the ruts. He walked to the narrow end and crouched down. Three deep impressions were stamped into the mud, spread apart like massive toes.  

Lotus climbed down behind him.  

“Tell me the ship gouged that when we crashed.”  

Castor set his hand down next to one of the tracks. It was several times larger than his palm.  

“The ship doesn’t have toes.”  

“It was a thought.”  

Castor climbed out of the depression and scanned the surrounding growth. The brush had been flattened in one definite direction, as if something enormous had tramped through without bothering to walk around the smaller trees.  

Lotus stared into the green wall.  

“Whatever that is, I hope it’s miles away.”  

They walked toward the wider end of the rut and kept going in that direction. A few yards on, they hit another identical depression. Castor knelt down to inspect it.  

“I think I know what these are.”  

Lotus looked at him just as the ground shuddered beneath their soles.  

“What are they, then?”  

Castor straightened up.  

“Footprints.”  

A bellow shook the jungle. Then came the heavy, steady thuds of footfalls, closer with every beat.  

Lotus took a step back, ready to run, but Castor checked him with a hand.  

“It’s a titan,” he said, watching the enormous shape lumbering through the trees. “I’ve run across them on other worlds. They’re herbivores. Leave it alone and it’ll go its own way.”  

The creature broke through the canopy. Its neck reached well clear of the treetops, and every stride sent shockwaves through the soil. Lotus tracked its advance, his entire frame tensed.  

The titan moved on without paying them the slightest attention. Its back disappeared among the upper canopy branches, its long neck swinging smoothly from side to side as it stripped whole clusters of leaves from the crowns. Every step mashed the mud down, stamping out another of the depressions Castor had just been examining. For a few seconds, even he forgot about the broken-down ship. He had seen massive beasts on other frontier worlds, but this one felt like it belonged to an era that preceded any planet in the Imperium.  

Lotus backed up until he was shoulder to shoulder with Castor.  

“Are you certain that thing only eats greens?”  

“Fairly certain.”  

“I do not like the sound of that ‘fairly.'”  

The titan snapped off a whole limb and kept walking. The canopy shook violently above them. Castor watched it fade into the foliage.  

“See? It doesn’t even know we’re here.”  

“I’d prefer it stays that way,” Lotus muttered.  

Another roar ripped through the brush, spinning them around on their heels. An allosaurus burst through the timber. It was a massive brute with yellow eyes and jaws lined with recurved teeth. It charged straight at them without checking its speed.  

“And is this one harmless too?” asked Lotus.  

“Run!” yelled Castor, already sprinting.

¿Sobrevivirán Castor y Lotus en un planeta gobernado por colosos jurásicos?

¿Qué misterios se ocultan en esta selva brutal?

¿Y quién —o qué— los acecha entre los árboles?

Apenas has dado el primer paso…

Y ya es demasiado tarde para volver atrás.

¿Vas a quedarte aquí, sin saber si sobreviven?

Comprar en Amazon

🎧 🎧 También disponible en audiolibro

Sobre esta serie:

Relatos cortos pulp dentro del universo Imperium.

Cada libro es una aventura autoconclusiva protagonizada por Castor Pollux en un planeta distinto, enfrentando nuevos enemigos, peligros y misterios. Puedes comenzar por cualquiera.