SL Huang - Up and Coming - Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors

“Here she is,” Captain Yokota said, motioning for Erin to stand next to him. “Our champion, Erin Bountain of Earth.”

His eyes flashed a what-the-hell-is-going-on look at her. She shrugged and wondered what to do with her hands while the Quggano translator relayed Captain Yokota’s message. She settled for folding her arms across her chest. No need for everyone on the bridge to see how cold she was.

“Captain FFRRHHHD congratulates both champions on their performance in the contest,” the translator said. “It is an unusual outcome, but surely speaks to the skill of the competitors.”

“Thank you, Captain Fred,” Erin said. She heard someone cough behind her and saw Yokota shooting a dirty look over his shoulder. “I feel honored to have played Ton-Gla-Ben with a challenger as adept as Mikey.”

This time, someone actually laughed out loud. Yokota snapped his fingers and pointed at the lift. Erin heard footsteps behind her.

“As tradition dictates, we will now open peace negotiations,” the translator said.

“What?” Erin said.

“We accept,” Yokota said, stepping forward. “Please let me offer—”

“Excuse me, Captain,” the translator said. “Negotiations will proceed between our two champions.”

“ What ?” Yokota said.

“They have proven themselves in the contest,” the translator said. “They now represent our respective species in this proceeding. I will translate for Champion MMMAAAKH.” He gestured with one arm, and Mikey’s parents reluctantly released him.

“Get them to a conference table,” Yokota said to Erin, under his breath. “Do not say anything else. You get them to the table, and then you hand off to me. You got that?”

“Don’t worry, Captain,” Erin replied. “I got this.”

She ignored his glare and stepped forward to meet Mikey’s image.

“Good game,” she said.

The translator conveyed her message. Mikey said something in response.

“Champion MMMAAAKH respectfully requests a rematch,” the translator said. “At your convenience, purely for sport.”

Erin smiled. “Tell him I’m ready. Anytime, anywhere. Gaalaann .”

Mikey waved his antennae and made that cawing sound again. The translator seemed confused. “Apologies, Champion Erin, I am not certain I understand your meaning.”

“ Gaalaann . It’s what you say when you begin a game of Ton-Gla-Ben, right?”

“That is the tradition,” the translator said. “However, the word itself can convey other nuances.”

Erin glanced at Darrow. “Like what?”

The translator flicked one antenna. “It denotes a challenge, but the specific context can apply other connotations. In the most literal sense, I believe it would translate as: ‘Follow me, if you are able.’ What did you mean to say?”

Erin smiled at the people on the viewscreen. “That’s exactly what I meant.”

Originally published by SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror

"You check those corners, sailor?" the Chief of the Boat barked. "Those lines are off by half a degree and our visitor doesn’t materialize!"

"Re-measuring now, Master Chief!"

The COB was exaggerating, but I’d learned early in my naval career not to argue with a superior. If it wasn’t likely to kill me, I just did it.

I placed my protractor on the dowstone panel we had strapped to the deck and re-checked all the angles in the chalked pentagram, then inspected every stroke of every rune around the circle. Then I climbed the ladder and verified the matching dowstone on the ceiling. Satisfied both stones would activate correctly, I stepped back and reported my progress.

"Very well," the COB grumbled. "Rosebud!"

The seaman’s real name was Roseler, but after that Orson Welles flick, everyone called him ‘Rosebud’ as a tease. He jumped forward, holding his clipboard. I did my best to get out of the way. The COB’s quarters weren’t exactly spacious. Roseler and I didn’t both need to be here, but we were apparently the only two sailors on the Bowfin rated for magic, and the Master Chief wanted us to double-check each other.

"You got the incantations there?" the COB asked Roseler.

"Aye, Master Chief!" Roseler said, his voice cracking. And people said I sounded like a girl.

"Corrected for position and depth?"

"Aye, Master Chief! I’ve got the math right here—"

"I can’t read your damn chicken scratches." The COB waved the clipboard away and checked his wristwatch. "Rendezvous in twenty seconds. Make sure you’re doing it right."

Roseler looked like he might cry. "M-maybe you’d like to do it yourself, Master Chief?"

"Do I look like a motherfucking magician?" the COB roared into Roseler’s face. Their noses couldn’t have been more than half an inch apart. "Now incant that fucking spell so we can receive our goddamn visitor!"

"Aye, Master Chief!" Roseler buried his face in the clipboard. I made a fist with one hand, ready to give him a kidney-punch if I heard the slightest mispronunciation. I didn’t want to be within a hundred yards of the Bowfin if anything went wrong on the receiving end of this teleport.

"Five seconds, sailor!" the COB shouted.

"Aye, Master Chief!" Roseler began making unnatural noises with his mouth. " Hagitaa, moro-ven-schaa, inlum’taa… "

Both pentagrams pulsed blue and white. Roseler finished the incantation, only going a little flat on the last syllable, and a pillar of light flashed into being between the two circles. A moment later, the light faded, and an officer stood inside the pentagram, carrying a large suitcase and wearing a…skirt?

"Permission to come aboard, Master Chief," the woman said.

She looked to be about my mother’s age. Unlike my mother, she wore lieutenant’s bars and the most perfect makeup I’d ever seen. But the expression on her face and the fact that she’d just teleported nearly seven thousand miles onto a submerged attack boat in the South Pacific told me she wasn’t here to entertain anyone. Her nametag read: MARKEY.

"Permission granted, ma’am," the COB said without missing a beat. I guess you don’t get to be a Master Chief by balking at the unexpected. "Sorry the captain couldn’t be here to greet you himself. We’re playing hide and seek with the Japs."

As if on cue, the entire boat groaned and rolled to starboard. I was impressed that the lieutenant kept her balance in those heels.

The COB shoved Roseler and me back. "If you’ll follow me, ma’am?"

Markey looked at the pentagrams. "You’re not going to clean this up?"

"These two can handle—"

"You secure those surfaces, Master Chief," Markey snapped. She looked straight at me. "You. What’s your name?"

I blinked, surprised that she would address me directly. "Uh, Hatcher, ma’am."

Markey nodded. "Seaman Hatcher can escort me to see the captain."

"A kraken?" Captain Channing glared at Lieutenant Markey. "Is this a joke?"

Everyone else in the control room, myself included, was doing their best to listen in without looking like they were eavesdropping. Markey had handed over an official envelope from COMSUBPAC, and the captain and XO had verified the code sigils with their authorization amulets before unsealing the Bowfin 's new orders.

"No joke, Captain," Markey said.

"We’re at war, and some egghead in OP-20-G wants us to go hunting for a sea monster?" The captain turned over the paper in his hand as if looking for something more on the back. "What makes you think this creature even exists?"

"The Japanese are very chatty," Markey said. "They don’t know we’ve broken their codes, and they talk about all kinds of things over the wireless. Lately they’ve been diverting their ships away from the western side of Kyushu Island, to avoid disturbing something they call nemuru kaiju —a sleeping beast. Surely you’ve noticed the changes in your patrol routes."