Captain’s Away! Robo Kun is a long form, weekly serial — and Volume Two of the ongoing space opera Captain’s Away!
The adventure began when Marie-Josée Doucette and her family were forced to flee after their space station Evangeline was destroyed in the opening volley of an interstellar war. Robo Kun tells the story of Alain Doucette, who was separated from his family after the destruction of another space station, Northumberland.
New chapters come out every week (more or less). Comments and suggestions welcome as we go along.
You can find the master index of all the chapters by clicking the orange Captain’s Away! index button below:
Previously in Captain’s Away!
The robot Sebastian has emerged from hiding and stumbled upon Alain’s hiding place in the bowels of the Realm battleship Atul. Gleaning that Sebastian intends to steal a ship and escape the battleship, Navi and Alain decide to go with it to escape the Padishah’s plan to kill Alain.
“The Scorpion”
“Your daughter and the Akkadian are in the main hangar bay,” Atul told the Padishah in the Command Centre.
Samudragupta sighed. He’d had high hopes for his daughter. He’d thought for sure the Akkadian would be lying in a pool of blood by now. “Don’t tell me they’re playing in the scorpions again.”
“It’s worse than that,” Atul said.
A holo appeared before the Padishah and the rest of the Command Centre crew showing Navi, Alain and Sebastian walking toward one of the scorpions. Samudragupta’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the robot. Despite possessing insignia suggesting that it could be native to Atul, it did not look familiar. Something was wrong here. “Where’s the guard we have trailing my daughter?”
“The guard is missing,” Atul told him. “She’s not where her ID says she is.”
Samudragupta’s brain switched to high alert. “Lock down the hangar!”
“Hangar locked down,” Atul confirmed. “No one unauthorized can get in or out.”
“Ship, what’s going on here?” Samudragupta asked. “I don’t recognize that robot. What’s it doing with my daughter?”
“That’s the robot we retrieved from space along with the Akkadian. It’s trying to steal one of our scorpions.”
Samudragupta felt the blood drain from his face. “With my daughter?”
“It intends to use your daughter as a hostage.”
Fleet Captain Agarwal attempted to take control of the situation, always a challenge when the Padishah was present. “Get a squad into the hangar deck immediately. Get the Maharani out of there. Gently, of course,” he added, at a glance from Samudragupta. “Then have someone put down that Akkadian infidel once and for all. And for God’s sake dismantle that robot.”
“Right away, Fleet Captain,” Atul said.
“How did the robot get that far without you knowing?” Samudragupta asked Atul.
“It’s no ordinary robot.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the robot responsible for the last robot rebellion.”
A flurry of urgent whispers erupted from the Command Centre crew.
“The one they call Grandfather?” Fleet Captain Agarwal asked.
“Yes.”
“I thought they caught that one.” Fascinated, Samudragupta watched the robot closely now. “I saw vid of it being dismantled and destroyed on Souris.”
“They crushed thousands of robots after the Robot Wars, several dozen allegedly Grandfather. But none of them was, because that’s Grandfather there.”
“Amazing,” Samudragupta said. “Well see that it doesn’t start any more rebellions. Or hurt my daughter!”
“Of course, Your Excellency.”
As if on cue, a squad entered the hangar through an auxiliary entrance. Atul piped audio to the holo it was projecting, allowing Samudragupta and Fleet Captain Agarwal and the rest of the Command Centre crew to hear what was going on.
“It’s okay,” Samudragupta heard his daughter tell the squad in Hindi. “The robot and I are going on a little trip. It’s my scorpion. I can do with it as I please.”
Samudragupta was impressed by his daughter’s tone. It was like listening to himself. He was equally intrigued by how the squad responded to her words, hesitating as though she had the authority to command them. “Can they hear me in there?”
“They can now.”
“Squad Leader,” Samudragupta said. “Please convey my daughter and her guests out of the hangar.”
The squad leader’s voice sounded in the Command Centre. “Certainly, Your Excellency. Your Highness, if you and your guests would be so kind as to come with me?”
“We are boarding that scorpion,” the Maharani replied imperiously.
“Remove the Maharani’s guests physically if need be,” Samudragupta directed the squad leader.
“Understood, Your Excellency.”
It went without saying that no one was to lay a hand on the Maharani. Samudragupta saw Felix, the Maharani’s man servant, lurking in the background. It would be his job to deal with the Maharani once this was all sorted out.
“Let us go,” the Maharani told her companions, but from the direction she was facing it was evident that she did not mean out of the hangar.
Before they could move, the squad leader and his soldiers stepped toward the children and the robot. Two of the soldiers fell as though knocked over. Neither the Maharani, the boy or the robot had budged. None of the other soldiers could get any closer to them. The fallen soldiers were back on their feet in an instant. All the soldiers now pointed their weapons at the robot and the boy.
The situation had escalated from merely annoying to potentially catastrophic. Samudragupta was dismayed. That was his daughter down there. His only offspring. The only remaining physical link to his beloved. He twirled the ring on the index finger of his left hand. Not his wedding band, the other one, the one proclaiming him Padishah.
“Get control of the hangar,” he demanded of both Atul and its hapless Fleet Captain, understanding now that the ship had not told him the full story. “Disable the scorpion. And protect my daughter at all costs.”
“Of course, Your Excellency,” Atul and Fleet Captain Agarwal said in unison.
This has an installment of Volume Two of the ongoing serial Captain’s Away! Robo Kun: A Strange Dimensions book.
Also by Joe Mahoney: A Time and a Place
An unlikely hero travels to other worlds and times to save a boy who does not want to be saved in this unique and imaginative adventure, by turns comic and tragic.
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Edge of my seat!!!