by M J Dees
“This is highly irregular for a prisoner statement,” protested a judge.
“We must abide by tradition and let him finish,” said Kirkland.
“Zarah Kader killed herself,” Sevan continued. “President Man and Fenris Kader devised another plot to kill Ozli by tampering with his jet pack and poisoning his pish. This plot worked in that they killed Ozli Man but it also backfired because it resulted in the deaths of President Man, his partner and Fenris Kader.”
“Ridiculous,” said President Akpom Chuba.
“I’m afraid not,” said Kirkland. “Not only does Sevan’s fresh evidence shed another light on the case, but I have also received some additional evidence which I think the court will find enlightening.”
“What’s your point, Kirkland?” asked another judge.
“I wished to present this extra evidence to the court,” said Kirkland. “I believe the court will consider it worth reviewing, as it has a bearing on the future of the Republic itself.”
"If you must, Kirkland," muttered the judge.
"I would like to play you a recording," said Kirkland, giving a signal for the recording to be played.
“My crime is rotten,” Sevan heard the crackly voice say. It sounded familiar. “It smells all the way to the Better Place. The murder of my own kind. There is no way to make this right, not while I am the president.”
Sevan then realised it was the voice of President Man.
“My office and my union,” the President's voice continued. “Can I make things right and still hold these positions? This galaxy is full of evil ways and rich criminals who avoid justice and reap the profits of their crimes by bribing their way, but they cannot do that in the Better Place. There is no deceit there, all must tell the truth about what they have done. I am trapped.”
"You must stay strong, you must stick to the plan we agreed," said another voice which also seemed familiar to Sevan. "Dispose of Ozli and I will help you to conquer the outer regions."
Sevan noticed President Akpom Chuba looked uncomfortable.
“I talk of the better place,” said the President. “But my thoughts remain here on Future. Words without thoughts never go to the Better Place.”
"Good," said the other voice. "Carry on with the plan as we agreed and use Fenris, he will help."
"I have another recording I would like to share with the court," said Kirkland, giving another signal.
"Have you done what we agreed and disposed of Ozli?" a voice asked. "Have you briefed Fenris yet?"
Sevan was convinced this was the voice of Chuba who looked like he wanted to leave, but guards surrounded him, Republic Guards, not his own.
“I have sent them to find Ozli and return with what remains of Kader,” said the voice of President Man. “It is too dangerous to leave him on the loose, we need to put tight restraints on him. He is popular among the idiotic masses, for some reason completely unknown to me, and because of that his punishment would be noted but not his offence. Therefore, his exile must appear planned, we solve desperate problems with desperate solutions or they are not solved at all.”
"Tell me when it is done," said the other voice. "I will get word to Fenris, he will be angry, you can use that anger to our benefit."
"These recordings prove that Sevan is right when he accused President Man," said Kirkland. "But they also show that President Man had a conspirator and I think you'll agree that it is clear from the recordings that the conspirator was Akpom Chuba. We traced the communications to prove this without a doubt."
Chuba made to leave, but the guards directed their weapons towards him, and he thought twice about trying to escape.
"Thank you for presenting that fresh evidence, Kirkland," said one judge. "The accused are telling the truth and that President Man, Ozli Man, Fenris Kader and Akpom Chuba are complicit in all the murders. This case is dismissed.
The screens with the three judges and the screen with the panicked looking Akpom Chuba went blank with a crackle of static. The screen with Kirkland remained switched on.
"Thank you, Kirkland," said Sevan. "Thank the Giant Cup you had those recordings."
"That's President Kirkland to you, Sevan. And there is no reason to thank me. You are still being sent to Aitne, the guards have prepared a transportation rocket for you."
"What? But we're innocent," Ay-ttho protested.
Kirkland laughed and with a flicker, the screen turned off.
The guards unfastened them from the chairs and, at gunpoint, marched them outside and past the ships to where they had constructed a rocket launcher and a rocket stood waiting.
"What the hell is that?" asked Ay-ttho.
"A penal transporter," said Tori. "They use it to transport prisoners when it doesn't matter whether or not the prisoners reach the destination."
"Oh, great," said Sevan. "Ay-ttho? Can you contact Ron?"
"I tried, but I can't get the communicator to work. Or they're blocking it somehow."
Sevan looked around, trying to estimate how practical it might be to escape, but there were too many guards to make a run for it.
The guards led them to the rocket gantry and forced them to climb the stairs until they reached the entrance hatch which they were told to enter.
Inside there was a capacity for many more prisoners, but they strapped themselves to the nearest chairs.
"Have you got a plan?" Sevan asked.
"Not a very good one," said Ay-ttho. "If you have a suggestion, now would be an excellent time to share it."
"I don't have a plan," said Sevan.
"Me neither," said Tori.
"Then we'll have to go with mine," said Ay-ttho.
"Does your plan involve being fired into space in a rocket?" asked Sevan.
"Yes, unfortunately, it does."
The guards left and sealed the hatch. Sevan could hear them descending the staircase.
"How did Ron not spot a rocket launcher on his scanners?" asked Sevan.
"Maybe they were screening the signature of the site," Tori suggested.
“So, your plan really does involve us going into space?” said Sevan.
“Yes,” said Ay-ttho.
“And how are we supposed to escape once we’re in space?”
“These rockets are just designed for aim and shoot,” said Ay-ttho. “They’ll just point us at Aitne and fire, they’re not bothered about whether we get there.”
“How is that supposed to reassure me?”
“We just have to wait until they fire us into space, then they’ll forget about us. Then all we have to do is find a way of turning the rocket around.”
“What about the Mastery of the Stars?”
“They’ll leave that for the Ocrex.”
“Oh, great, the ship might not be there when we get back.”
“Ron will look after her.”
The rocket shuddered and Sevan realised they were firing up the gravity displacement device. There was a metallic clunk as the gantry released the rocket and then they were pressed into their seats by the rapid acceleration as the rocket launched.
There were no windows in the rocket, but they knew when they were outside of the atmosphere because of the weightlessness.
“Will this rocket survive re-entry?” asked Sevan.
“You’ve always loved asking questions, haven’t you,” Ay-ttho complained. “Yes, it will survive re-entry, it’s made from tough stuff. We just need to find where the gravity manipulation unit is.”
As soon as they released themselves from their straps they floated around the compartment, looking for access to other compartments on the rocket.
"It's completely sealed," said Tori.
"Not completely," said Ay-ttho, removing her helmet. "There is a breathable atmosphere so there must be a way of recycling the air."
"Like vents?" asked Sevan.
"Under the seats," said Tori.
Ay-ttho helped Tori rip up a seat which proved quite a challenge in microgravity. They used th
e body of the rocket to push against and forced the seat from its mounting, which ripped up a section of the floor. With the section removed, they could see that beneath the floor was a compartment which contained air ducting and cabling.
Ay-ttho and Tori looked at each other and then at Sevan. Tori removed his helmet.
“Sevan’s the smallest,” he said.
Sevan took off his helmet.
“What do you mean, I’m the smallest?” he asked.
“Sevan? Do you know how to reprogramme a gravity manipulator?” Ay-ttho asked.
“I don’t even know what a gravity manipulator looks like, let alone how to reprogramme one.”
“I’ll have to go,” said Ay-ttho.
“Can you get in there?” asked Tori.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Ay-ttho began stripping off her suit while Sevan and Tori tried to rip up more of the floor.
“Even if you can turn the rocket around, how are we going to land it,” asked Sevan.
“Don’t worry about that,” said Tori. “All Ay-ttho needs to do is programme a new location and the rocket will go there and land itself.”
“What could go wrong?” said Sevan, to himself as much as Tori.
Ay-ttho pulled herself into the hole in the floor and along the cavity towards the end of the compartment.
“I can see it,” she shouted back.
“Can you reach it?” asked Tori.
“Just about. This should be simple if I can just...”
Sevan fell to the floor as he suddenly felt his normal weight return.
“What happened?” he asked Tori, who seemed to expect this.
“Ay-ttho has asked the gravity manipulator to manipulate the gravity inside the rocket, now she just needs to change the manipulation on the outside.”
“Of course,” Sevan sighed.
“Okay,” Ay-ttho shouted back along the cavity. “I’ve just added the location, the rocket should change trajectory in three, two...”
Sevan was thrown to the floor again as the rocket lurched wildly.
“What happened?” Tori shouted to Ay-ttho as the rocket lurched again.
“I don’t know. Maybe there is an anti-tamper device. It seems to be completely out of control.”
CHAPTER 15: THE RUNAWAY ROCKET
"What do you mean, it's out of control?" asked Sevan, trying to hold on to a seat as the rocket lurched from side to side. "Does that mean we are just floating in space until we die?"
"You are such an optimist, Sevan," said Tori.
"I'm not surprised," said Sevan, losing his grip and falling over again. "Here we are floating in space with no food or water. How do they expect their prisoners to get to Aitne?"
"I don't think they expect them to get there. I think most of those they transport die on the journey."
"Great!" Sevan let out an enormous sigh, as he pulled himself into the seat. "Even if, by some blessing of the Giant Cup, Ay-ttho can get that thing to work and get us back to the Mastery of the Stars, we are now fugitives. We won't be able to return to the Republic, we'll be wanted all over the region."
"I wouldn't worry about that. They'll assume we died on the way to Aitne. I doubt anyone will come looking for us."
"I hope you're right."
"Can you do anything about it?" Tori shouted into the cavity.
"I'm trying to bypass the anti-tamper mechanism," Ay-ttho shouted back. "But if I get it wrong, I could lock us out of the system permanently."
"Where did she learn to do all this stuff?" asked Sevan.
"It's a lengthy story," said Tori.
"Hold on tight," Ay-ttho shouted. "I'm about to activate the bypass."
Sevan held on tight to his seat and a moment later he was glad he had as the rocket turned over completely and he hung from the seat which was coming away from the floor which had become the roof.
The rocket lurched again and righted itself, dumping Sevan on the floor again once more.
Ay-ttho crawled out of the cavity.
"That should have done it," she said as she climbed back into her suit. "The rocket should take us back to the Ocrex colony on Sirius."
"What about the Republic troops?" asked Sevan.
"I doubt they're still there," said Tori. "I'd be more worried about what the Ocrex might have done to the Mastery of the Stars."
"Ron can take care of them," said Ay-ttho.
"I hope so," said Sevan. "He wasn't that successful against the looters on Daphnis."
"They were professionals," said Ay-ttho. "The Ocrex are amateurs, at stripping a ship, that is."
Sevan tried to make himself comfortable as he waited for the rocket to complete the journey back to Sirius.
He hadn't been comfortable for very long when an alarm briefly sounded from somewhere.
"We'd better put our helmets on and strap ourselves in," said Ay-ttho. "We're approaching the atmosphere, the descent could be rough."
Sevan made sure he strapped himself in very well. Ay-ttho had not lied. The rocket shook vigorously as it made its descent to the planet's surface. He felt unbearably hot as the compartment heated. His suit was not designed to compensate for situations like these, the Mastery of the Stars had bigger suits which would have been better, but they hadn't imagined they would have been in this situation when they had left the ship.
There was a violent jolt and a terrible scraping noise as the rocket skimmed across the surface of the rocky terrain. Then came a loud crack as the rear section of the rocket was torn off, Sevan could see debris being thrown up into the air behind him as the rocket was being torn to pieces.
It veered to one side and rolled, pieces being thrown off with every revolution. Sevan soon lost sense of which way was up until what remained of the rocket came to a rest against the face of a volcanic mountain side, at which point he knew with certainty that the wreckage had come to a rest upside down.
"At least we need not open the hatch," said Ay-ttho, releasing her straps and landing on her feet on what remained of the roof of the rocket.
"That was fun," said Tori, performing a similar acrobatic exit from his seat onto his feet next to Ay-ttho.
Seven released his straps, got his leg caught, and tumbled out of the seat into a pile at their feet.
"Nicely done," said Ay-ttho. "Let’s find the Mastery of the Stars."
They emerged from the wreckage on to a barren stretch of volcanic rock, littered with debris from the landing.
"It should be just around here," she said, skirting the rock face while the others followed.
Sure enough, as they circled the mountain, they passed the ruins of the rocket gantry, then the Mastery of the Stars came into view. There was no sign of the Republic ships but signs of fighting and smoke was rising from the direction of the colony.
"Be careful," said Ay-ttho. "Something has happened. I'll try to contact Ron before we approach the ship. Ron? Can you hear me? Ron?”
“I can hear you, Ay-ttho,” Ron’s voice crackled over her suit’s communication device.
“We are near the ship, Ron. Can you open the door and let us in?”
“I can, but be careful, the Ocrex are around and they have been trying to damage the ship, I have been fending them off with the cannons.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Ay-ttho, led Tori and Sevan across the rocky terrain.
They were halfway between the safety of the rock face and the entrance to the Mastery of the Stars, when they saw the Ocrex emerging from the smouldering remains of the colony. The three of them had to duck as they ran to avoid the cannon fire that Ron was aiming above their heads to scare away the Ocrex.
As they ran, Sevan could see the door of the Mastery of the Stars opening and the gangway lowering. It had barely reached the rock floor when they reached it and leapt aboard. Ron closed the entrance immediately, continuing to fire the cannons at the Ocrexwho were trying to make a dash for the open door.
Ay-ttho, Tori and Sevan made their way strai
ght to the bridge and stripped out of their suits.
“Let's get out of here,” said Ay-ttho.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” said Ron. “The Ocrex did some damage to the ship, we have to repair it before we can leave.”
“Great,” said Sevan. “Anything else we should know about?”
“Would you like the good news or the bad news?” said Ron.
“Give us the good news.”
“The good news is that you are not fugitives. I picked up some Republic transmissions. They know you are no longer heading to Aitne but President Kirkland has announced that you have already served your sentence.”
“And the bad news?”
“The bad news is that they now classify you as ex-convicts which may prohibit entry into certain systems.”
“I can live with that,” said Ay-ttho.
“There is more bad news,” said Ron. “There is now a power struggle between President Kirkland and the supporters of Akpom Chuba. The Republic is on the brink of civil war and they have stationed patrols on all portals entering the Republic.”
“Why should we worry about that?”
“With the portals guarded, it might be difficult to sneak back into the Republic to return to The Doomed Planet as we had intended.”
“I see your point,” Ay-ttho sighed. “I need some food and some rest, does anyone object if I retire to my quarters for a while? One of us will need to keep watch in case the Ocrex return.”
“Can’t Ron keep watch, still?” asked Sevan.
“He has done an outstanding job looking after the Mastery of the Stars but he could not prevent the Ocrex from damaging the ship by himself, he needs someone to help him.”
“I will take the first watch,” said Tori. “You two get cleaned up, and eat, and rest, I`ll be fine.”
“Thanks, Tori,” said Sevan, as he followed Ay-ttho off the bridge.