Rose Star Runners

By Alex Benitez

Get the diamond!
Strap yourself in and blast off on a genuine adventure.
Rose Star Runners will guide the way. In this not so farfetched
rendition of the future, well follow three characters as they are
unsuspectingly pulled into a journey that spans the universe.
Experience the sensation of having your feet on the sidewalk
of a city of glass or sharing a romantic glass of champagne
on a lunar cruise circling a planet. All this will be yours and
more when you peek inside this book. Read as science fi ction,
adventure, romance, and most of all, humor are seamlessly woven
together in a dazzling tapestry that is Rose Star Runners.
So join Ky, Will and Jina as they set forth on a quest to save
the universe.
Ky, Will, and Jina decide to get temporary jobs to
deal with their mounting bills. That is when little Will catches
a glimpse of a huge diamond. After much persuasion, Will
convinces his comrades to steal the jewel. They are not the
only ones with their eyes on the diamond. The Galactic Federal
Bureau, an alien race called Arlians, an insane religious cult,
and a whacked out cyborg named Locharp also has hopes of
taking it. Our heroes must contend with them to successfully retrieve
it, but as their efforts begin to pay off they fi nd that there
is much more to the diamond then meets the eye. Help Ky, Will
and Jina along their galaxy spanning rat race to secure the
diamond before all hope is lost and catch your fi rst peek into
the world of Rose Star.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462878277

Alex Benitez

Hi, I’m Alex, a 25-year-old aspiring writer. I’m just about the coolest person you’ll ever meet period. I’ve always had a passion for stories and story telling and can remember me trying to tell family members my stories at the age of 4. As a child I used to physically act out stories I developed in my head. It used to be one of my only joys as a kid, but was very embarrassed about it so I told no one. Now it is that very talent that I’m hoping to make my livelihood. Instead of acting them out, I’m now writing them down. With the help of my brother’s breathtaking visual art, I hope this book gives its readers a feel for the Rose Star universe as a whole. I’m looking forward to the inevitability of this becoming a cultural phenomenon. I plan to give you everything you felt is missing from every movie, book or story with everything that I touch. All in all I’m just a man trying a new venture to secure a future for my daughter and myself. So sit back, relax, and take a gander at this book. If you like it, I promise to keep coming up with more. All right, Alex out. Thank you all for your love and support. Ciao.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Alex Benitez.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011908480

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-7826-0

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-7825-3

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-7827-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Credits

Written and original story by:

Alex Benitez

Illustrations by:

Israel Bentiez

Technical Assistance by:

Joshua Nierodzinski

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

95321

Contents

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

About the Author

Dedicated to Alexis Marie Carner. With this, I hope you now have a dad

you can be proud of.

Love,

Papi

The Time of Rose Star

Some roughly ten thousand years in the future, interstellar space travel has become a thing of the far past. Getting across a planet is as easily achieved as driving around town in our time, and traveling from one planet to another can be arranged like flying in our time. Every comfort has a number of grand technological achievements to accommodate them, as the future is mainly a paradise. Every city on every colonized planet is a metropolis of business and modern technological beauties, and skyscrapers that reach heights previously unimagined. It is a promising future, but there are still some who teeter on the brink of poverty due to their own laziness. One such man is Ky Gracen. You might wonder why a person would choose to be so relaxed when he could put forth some effort and live a much better life. All Ky would say to you is If you are put through half the stuff I’m put through, you’d wanna take things easy too.

Ky Gracen

A man in his time. Ky prefers, and is use to, the fast pace life of the future. He’s happy to do as little as possible to get by in life. Scraping by for a living is a position, a man like Ky, is all too familiar with. In and out of custody since a teenager, this mediocre mid-twenties pilot takes odd jobs to support himself. Since he works only when he needs to, this leaves this self proclaimed playboy with frequent nights off. His hobbies include, partying, drinking and taking naps. His happy-go-lucky attitude is maintained through even the darkest scenarios.

William A. Treyu

The young prodigy hacker. This cute blonde haired freckled face boy has a more serious deposition then his youthful frame lets on. Born an orphan, this lonely child of nine made up programs in his computer to act as friends. After being caught hacking into a government system at age six, he bounced around in juvenile detention centers until he was enrolled in a type of big brother program. The person that Will was inevitably paired with was Ky, who voluntarily enlisted himself in the program to find an easy way around some community service. Will sees himself as the parent of the two, and is far too serious for his age. His hobbies include, computer games, hacking systems, and bubble gum.

Jina

The poisonous flower. This young lady is only nineteen years old and as beautiful a girl as could ever be, but sadly, no one is to know her beauty. She is the deadliest woman in the galaxy when wielding her thin metal six-foot long staff. Barehanded, she can easily punch through solid cement blocks, but with the staff, her attacks cause a string of vibrations with the impact. The vibrations cause a secondary, sometimes explosive like, strike. For a five-foot four inch girl with long black hair who dresses in various kimonos, the sight of her fighting is quite absurd looking. Although, when she stares at you ready for battle, you can feel death simmering in the air. This deadly blossom does have one severe weakness, gambling. In one very high stakes bet, the femme fatale lost a vast sum to Ky and now continuously aids him when she can until her debt is fully repaid. Besides gambling, nobody knows much about her hobbies. She is a shroud of feminine mystery and power.

I

Jobs

In the city of Gohanesse, tucked away in the industrial district is a studio like warehouse

converted into a large apartment. Attached to the sides of the large apartment were other bustling warehouses and factories. The surrounding establishments were alive with people and activities, so much so, that it made the studio/warehouse seem oddly quiet.

Inside the studio/warehouse, a nine-year-old boy by the name of Will wakes up in his room. A mess of pillows, clothes, and furniture greet his youth filled eyes as he stretched and yawned himself fully awake. After rallying through the mess and stepping foot out on to the collapsible steps just past his bedroom door, Will surveyed the rest of the studio/warehouse’s interior.

The studio/warehouse was crudely converted into living quarters. The kitchen, living room and dinning room shared the same wide open area that took up most of the apartment. Only the bathroom, Will’s room, and Ky’s room had any sort of privacy. Those rooms were incased by cardboard or collapsible metal walls, and were fixed together by pre-made metal frames. In the case of Will’s room, it was suspended in the upper right corner of the apartment, supported up by a metal stilt system. A set of collapsible stairs lead up to his bedroom door. A metallic ladder on the other side of the apartment lead up to the story high windows, and futons were placed on its catwalk to laze on and gaze out.

Will looked down at the apartment and realized the place is long past filthy. Clothes were everywhere, the floors were grimy, beer cans lined every table top and their industrial three-tub sink was overflowing with dishes. Will looked at his wrist-watch communicator and found out it was 7:42 AM, and Ky still wasn’t home. Knowing that even if Ky was home he wouldn’t do much about the mess, Will let out a sigh in preparation for the friction of the day. He first slid all the beer cans and trash off the tables into a single black garbage bag. Next, Will mopped the floor.

Will was about halfway into a mountain of dishes when the front door finally swung open. Ky walked in with an arm over his stomach, bags around his eyes and a headache made of dynamite. He waddled in like a sack of rotten fruit, tracking mud on the freshly cleaned floor. He gradually made his way to the couch in the living room area and sank into it with his face wedged in a cushion as if to say I’m never gonna move again.

Will looked at the now muddy floor, and then at his watch. It was 8:35 AM and anger was building up in young Will like a muscle. He walked over to Ky with a stern look on his face and a half-cleaned spatula in his hand. He hovered over Ky’s limp body for a moment analyzing the slob.

Were you out all night? Will scolded.

I don’t remember. Ky honestly answered with his face still buried in the arm of the couch.

This place is disgusting.

Yeah it is,

Will added. And you just got mud all over my clean floor.

It’ll get cleaned again. A muffled voice whined from inside the couch cushion.

By me that is. You know, you can feel free to help around sometimes. It’s not like I’m the wife here. Will sarcastically complained.

Yeah, you’re not the wife, you just play one in real life. Ky fired back without missing a beat.

Will crossed his free arm over his chest in an assertive manner, and pointed the wet spatula at the back of Ky’s disheveled brown hair. Oh, so you think that’s funny?

Ky got his face out of the couch for the first time in the conversation. His eyes looked deeply into that of the young boy’s in a complete expression of sincerity. Ky’s face was flushed red and his hair was thrown every which way as he sympathetically gazed at Will. Ky’s dangling hand balled up, and thrust itself into Will’s guts. Will lunged back into the coffee table behind him, banging his back and head against it. All that transpired in less then two seconds.

While Will rubbed his bruises, Ky answered. No, that’s funny. Ky once again dropped his face back into the bosom of the couch. Will slowly raised to his feet and slumped away containing unresolved anger. With one hand still rubbing his stomach, Will picked up a pile of neglected newspapers from the dinning table.

Will muttered to himself while sifting through envelopes in search of junk mail. Jerk,

Will began to more intensely examine several of the envelopes. And we got all these bills mounting up. You need a job.

Ky didn’t reply, but simply brushed off the order with a wave of his hand.

Will continued. After this month, our account is gonna be hurting, real bad.

The pair fell silent for a minute as Will put the bills down and went back to the kitchen to tend to the rest of the dishes.

What about the butt-load of loot Jina owes us? Ky remembered.

Will shook his head from side to side and informed. It’s not gonna help. She’s been paying us back in such small increments, it’s gonna take forever for her to give us anything substantial. At this rate, she’s actually more of a liability.

Ky flipped around in the couch and put his arms behind his head as he said. Just great! The person who’s suppose to be our golden ticket is costing us money.

Computer, Will commanded to the sleek unfolded laptop on the coffee table by Ky.

Yes, The computer generated voice blared from the stylish console.

See if there are any suitable jobs for Ky. You know, the usual stuff.

Affirmative, The Computer agreed. Less then a second later the computer blurted. There is a waste company with a shipment seeking an independent currier. Shall I send a reservation and resume to the employer?

Hold on computer, Ky interjected. His voice’s tone then directed itself at Will. Do you know what type of people run those waste companies? Just thinking of meeting people like them at the space-port already creeps me out.

It’s not like we have much choice. Will then changed his voice to address the computer. Yes computer, go ahead and reserve the job.

Fine, I’ll do it then. Ky finally submitted. He then quietly asked the computer for a quick remedy for a hangover.

File not accessible. The computer replied.

What good are you anyway?

This’ll be good for you Ky! Anything to get your lazy bones up. Will said looking at a pan that had a particularly tough glaze of grime caked on it.

Ky lounged back in the couch for a moment with his hand beneath his chin as if he was pondering something. He gave an odd, almost evil, smile with his eyes wondering at Will’s direction.

Hey, you know what else would help our finances? Ky stated as an empty question.

What?! Will shouted back taking a knife to the pan with some genuine concern in his voice.

If you got a job. Ky suggested with a huge grin slapped on his mug.

Me!? Will laughed to himself. Aren’t their some child labor laws around here or something?

Nope, Ky voiced with a hint of a certain satisfaction. They repealed those. Anyone as young as ten is allowed to work.

I’m nine,

Yeah, yeah… I meant nine. Ky said unconvincingly.

Right then, the door opened again. The person who stepped inside was a beautiful nineteen-year-old girl with long jet-black hair. She was wearing a tight blue kimono while wielding a six-foot long metal staff in one hand and a small bag of groceries in the other. She was such a fair looking lady that most men wouldn’t be able to help from just watching her with their mouths gaped open in an aroused daze. No painter could have painted any person or scene more gorgeous then this young lady, and yet Will and Ky barely even reacted to her entry. It seemed as if they were use to her paralyzing looks.

Hi Jina, Will greeted turning his head from the door back to the stubborn pan.

Jina’s diamond like green eyes grew wide at the sight of Will and Ky. She put the groceries on the dinner table and leaned the staff against a wall.

Wow, She said in astonishment. Didn’t expect you guys to still be here so early.

Ky wondered. So if we weren’t here, you would’a just walked right in?

Jina started rummaging through the grocery bag pulling out bread and eggs before she answered. Yup, She headed over to the kitchen area with all her fixings in her arms. After putting them on the counter, she dropped a few slices of bread into the toaster and pulled a freshly cleaned frying pan out of the sink.

As she turned on the heat to one of the burners on the stove, Will glanced to Jina and asked. What are you doing?

Cooking breakfast. She said nonchalantly.

Can’t you do that somewhere else? Ky groaned at her from the living room with a hidden message blatantly implied.

I don’t live anywhere, so, no I can’t.

That’s cool, Will assured. can you make me something too? I’m starving.

She cracked an egg into the frying pan and apologized. Sorry, Will. I only bought enough for myself. Remember? I didn’t know you’d be here.

Cold blooded! Ky joked from way out in the living room.

With her meal sizzling, firing mist and delicious aromas up from the pan, Jina remarked. So what’s wrong guys? No work lately?

Yeah, Will said without thinking. Well, Ky has a gig today.

Why don’t you get a job, Will? You know. Start pulling your own weight. She interrogated while turning the heat off and flipping the eggs on to a prepared plate

See? Ky again added pointing a finger up to the sky as if he had proven something.

I’ll get one. Will whispered so softly they were only caught by Jina’s ears. He sniffed the air directing him to the tantalizing smells coming from Jina’s plate. Come on Jina. Just let me get a little bit of that.

Can’t do it, Jina revealed with her eyes closed and a smart-ass smile forming on her face. This is only for people who need their belly’s full for a hard days work.

As he started getting down to the final dishes in the pile, Will figured out. Oh, so you have a job today too.

Ky’s ears perked up in interest. His body also grew erect in the couch as he sinisterly said. Really? So you going to have another installation on that amazing debt you owe us?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, She dismissed while mowing down on her food.

Well how much are you getting paid? Will inquired.

Three hundred dalaz, She replied without flinching.

Three hundred dalaz? Ky and Will said in unison. They both looked at each other from across the room; they stared at one another for a long moment. They both busted out in vicious laughter. That meager pay for a hard days work was about the equivalent of minimum wage in our time, if that. Their continuous laughter roared through the apartment and seemed endless. The cackling appeared to be ruining Jina’s appetite, for she became flush, and a mean scowl was etched into her perfect features.

Will broke away from his incessant laughing and gasped. three hundred dalaz? Might as well be three dalaz. Will’s laughter turned back on as if someone flipped a switch.

Jina didn’t say anything for the rest of her visit. She just stood there near the stove with that mean expression on her face. She finished her breakfast with an odd silence emanating from her. Even as the laughter died out, she simply tossed the plate in the sink, grabbed her metal staff, and stormed out slamming the door.

Ky sat up in the couch. Scratching his head with both his hands, then he said. Well, I better start getting ready. Ky then averted his attention to the laptop screen reflecting his own tired face. Computer, how much am I being paid?

A voice resonated from the laptop’s speakers. The pay rate is fifteen-hundred dalaz. You shall meet your employer at the downtown space-port in approximately three hours.

A job’s a job. Ky sighed as he gradually stood up.

Will finished the last dish, Jina’s dirty plate, and said. I’m going to get something to eat.

Look for a job too. Ky reminded him as he headed to his room.

I will. Will said with his head to his chest. Suddenly, a new vigor came to life in Will’s speech. You’re not going to have anything before work?

No,

Suit yourself, Will’s voice rang as he took his keys from the dining table and set out on foot to the nearest restaurant. Ky, now in his room, took his sweet time dressing in some work attire.

Ky got off the bus in front of the space-port still feeling quite sluggish. As hung over as he was, he wasn’t going to be able to function to the best of his ability with his body aching with every move he made. Not anticipating that Will was going to force him into working that day, he had no time to take anything to counteract his sickly feeling. His eyes scrolled to the electronic billboard dangling high in the air from the space-ports grand white walls. The billboards detailed the space-port’s departures and arrivals. Not being able to make any sense of the billboards, Ky walked right in through one of the numerous glass doors in hopes of just guessing whom inside was his employer.

Once inside, his eyes layered the space-ports interior trying to catch any clue of his employer. Ky’s half-cocked idea fully panned out, because amongst the hustle and bustle of any typical space-port, waited a few men in denim jump suits. The suits were soiled from top to bottom, even the patches over their chest that read Carl’s Garbage was dirty. Their skin was also covered in some type of dirt mixed together with their sweat to create a drippy mess on their bodies. The men had an aura of filth that loomed about them. Ky began to reluctantly approach the three men.

As Ky walked to them, the guy in the fore was a rather fat man who busted out a smile the instant he noticed Ky advancing.

The man put his arm out and shook Ky’s hand when he introduced himself. Hey there, brother. I’m Carl Farven of Carl’s Garbage.

Ky Gracen,

Carl moved his sweaty arm around Ky’s shoulder and escorted him about the space-port as if it was his own backyard. Ky cringed inside himself at the oaf’s touch.

Wooo-boy! I’m sure glad we found you. I was looking outside at them boards, and I couldn’t tell a darn thing from another.

Me neither, Ky said without giving it too much thought.

Me neither!? Carl laughed with an oink Me neither. Hey this guy’s funny. Carl said to his boys while giving Ky a hardy slap on the back that looked like a bear mitt. The expression on Ky’s face communicated that the friendly slap was highly uncomfortable. Carl’s little gang joined into simultaneous laughter and stopped nearly at the same time.

Have our accounts been linked? Ky asked clearly trying to make this affair more business like.

Yes sirie, that and all the other online paperwork is done. Carl feverishly answered.

Great, Ky blankly responded putting one finger to the smooth touch screen of his wristwatch communicator. Which gate are we in?

Fifty-four,

Awesome, Ky pushed a portion of the tiny touch screen.

Have you sent for your galactic cruiser? Carl anxiously questioned.

Just did,

The small group traversed the halls of the vast space-port. This downtown space-port was the most frequently used in Gohanesse City. It was built appropriately and comfortably housed the busy days that it would endure. Every wall was high, at least thirty feet in the air. The terminal was wide open, with bolted chairs and telephones lining the behemoth-like pale walls. It remarkably resembled an airport in our time. Space-ports are extremely similar to them, but the only difference is it was on a more grand scale. People whizzed along claiming bags, others silently waited for their loved one’s commercial voyages to end. Shipping companies sorted their shipments while the bosses haggled for baggage costs and screamed at guys on their cell phones. It was the very definition of commerce.

They headed straight through the building ascending up several different sets of escalators. That took them up past the terminal and baggage claim into a giant hall that lead to the gates. The hall eventually forked into three new paths, and black boards hung down at the entrance of each path. It was the gates, and the boards indicated which gates were in each hall.

Carl read out loud. Hall B, Gates Thirty-three through sixty-five. That looks like that’d be us.

As they all headed in the center hall, Carl kept persistently gabbing at Ky. Even though Ky mainly ignored him in an obvious disinterest of his never-ending rants, he would instinctively give the portly fellow a cool, uh-huh, or a yeah. Those dull words kept Carl going despite Ky’s detached demeanor.

They moved past electronic billboard adds lacing the walls in between large windows uncovering a gigantic hall of docked spacecrafts. The wall eventually transformed into a set of double doors with the number fifty-four imprinted above