The Money Star

by Jon Lymon

  ‘We will not negotiate until the identity of the hostage is confirmed.’

  “Then you’d better come and identify him yourselves.”

  “What are you doing, Sye?” Aurora was standing over his shoulder.

  “Gambling? I dunno. I’m just trying to keep us alive.”

  Bettis looked over, eyebrows raised. “They’re thinking about it.”

  “What do we do if they come on board?” Aurora asked.

  “One step at a time,” Remnant said slowly.

  The radio cracked into life. ‘Prepare to be boarded. Repeat, prepare to be boarded.’

  51

  The crew of the Baton Uric keenly felt the disorientation and vulnerability that comes with having someone walk on your roof. Three sets of footsteps rang hollow and metallic above them, before coming to an abrupt halt.

  Remnant looked at Bettis in the cockpit, both men feeling the pump of nerves in the heart of their hearts. Remnant slowly stood and calmly walked to the open cockpit door in time to see the door of the hold slowly open.

  A tall, tanned man no older than forty paused in the hold and stared at Remnant. He wore his hair long, and a silver cape about his shoulders that suggested he was new to this space business, but eager to try and look the part. His searing blue eyes flitted around, considering the possibility that this could be some kind of trap. He sent the two guards who had followed him on board ahead of him. Both wore shiny silver and navy blue space suits with helmets that covered the top half of their faces. They had weapons drawn and the first motioned to Remnant to move back into the cockpit and stand next to Bettis. The two guards scanned the cockpit like pros, one covering the other while they searched for boobytraps or hidden assailants. Then while one trained his laser on Remnant and Bettis’ foreheads in quick succession, the other fleeced the men for weapons they didn’t have.

  Satisfied the men were unarmed, the second guard signalled the all-clear to the tall man in silver who strode into the cockpit.

  “You are holding my brother hostage?” the man asked.

  Remnant nodded.

  “Fetch him. If any harm has come to him, harm will come to you.”

  “Sorry, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.” It was Bettis trying to sound as upper class English as he could in the face of this aggressive and abrupt South African. He offered a hand which was not shaken.

  “I’m Haalange. Zeut Haalange.”

  “Well, Mr Haalange, I must say we thought your tone earlier a little inappropriate.”

  Remnant wasn’t sure what Bettis was playing at, but his approach was certainly baffling Haalange, who was already getting impatient.

  “Fetch my brother,” he ordered.

  “I should warn you. He’s badly injured,” said Remnant. “It was a pretty messy battle.”

  “Bring him to me.”

  “We could have left him for dead, you know. But we didn’t.”

  Haalange’s guards drew their weapons, their patience exhausted.

  “OK, OK, follow me.” Remnant led the two guards into the cabin while Haalange stayed with Bettis in the cockpit.

  The guards sniffed the cabin air, the quality of which hadn’t improved even with Aurora on board. Remnant pointed to the top bunk.

  “He’s sleeping,” Remnant whispered.

  One of the guards gently prodded the blanketed lump on the top bunk with the butt of his laser gun. Then the second whipped back the blanket, revealing a pile of dirty clothes and pillows.

  Aurora seized her moment, delivering a devastatingly ferocious blow to the second guard’s tackle from her lower bunk hiding place. The man groaned and doubled-up, intense pain searing from the scrotia up into the heart of the gut. His crouching allowed Aurora to deliver a kick to his face that sent him flying back into the first guard, whom Remnant had grabbed around the neck. This first guard was desperately delivering reverse punches to Remnant’s upper thigh, but the captain of the Baton Uric was oblivious to the pain, such was his determination to overpower these men. He clenched his teeth as the guard fought and punched and kicked for his next breath.

  “Go and help Bettis,” Remnant shouted, seeing that her man was down and out. She nodded, grabbed the guard’s laser and ran out.

  Remnant’s grip around the guard’s neck was unrelenting, holding on way past the moment the guard breathed his last.

  There was no elation when he finally let the body slip. Just a tingling in his head and arms, an emptiness in his stomach, a coldness in his blood and, above all, a profound lack of understanding of the enormity of what he’d just done.

  “Sye, get in here,” Aurora yelled.

  Aurora was pointing her gun at Haalange who had Bettis in a headlock, a silver laser pistol pointing at his scalp.

  “Now this has all turned very nasty very quickly, hasn’t it?” Haalange said. “I presume there is no hostage?”

  “We took out both your ships. There were no survivors,” Remnant said, matter-of-factly.

  Haalange scrunched shut his eyes, and fought back the tears for his lost brother.

  “What do you want with us?” asked Remnant. “I’ve already said you can take the diamond.”

  “What I want, what we all want,” he said with a sweeping arm movement that included the wall of ships in front of them, “is for our home planet to remain untainted by aliens. Free of bugs and viruses harboured by people who’ve been to Mars. And by the diamond you’re trying to smuggle back.”

  “That’s what this is all about?” Remnant asked. “The fighters? The wall of ships?”

  “The purity of the Earth cannot, must not be tainted.”

  “The Earth, pure? What planet have you been living on, mate? The Earth ain’t pure. You ain’t pure. None of us is.”

  Bettis groaned from the pain caused by the awkward position Haalange had him in. “If you’re going to kill me, then kill me,” he muttered as best he could. Haalange pulled him upright, his laser still pointing at his head.

  “Switch on the radio. I need to call my ship.”

  Bettis pulled away from Haalange, conscious of the weapon still trained on him. The pilot reached for the radio button, but at the last minute his hand switched to the thruster which he slammed forward. The Baton Uric reacted with a jolt that caught Haalange unawares and caused him to lose his balance. Aurora was thrown to the back of the cockpit where she hit her head hard against the wall and fell unconscious. The sudden move gave Remnant the crucial seconds he needed to leap on the prone South African.

  He desperately tried to wrestle the pistol from Haalange’s grip. “You’re not going to win this one,” Remnant snarled through gritted teeth.

  Bettis was steering the vessel through the gap in between two of the ships in the wall. Frantic messages were coming in over the intercom, asking for permission to shoot the ship down. All were being met with denials from The Garfield.

  The Baton Uric’s pilot heard these and upped the thrust, speeding away from the wall, his eyes clenched shut, waiting for the explosive moment that would end it all. But with a ceasefire imposed, all the crews in the wall could do was watch.

  After engaging autopilot, Bettis leapt from his seat to deliver a weak kick to Haalange’s flank as he struggled with Remnant. The South African kicked Bettis away with ease then summoned the strength to push off Remnant. Aurora rose to her feet, still disorientated by her fall. She saw Haalange crawl to an upright position and face Remnant, his finger poised on the trigger of his laser pistol. But before he could press it, Bettis dived for the gun. As if in slow motion, Aurora watched Haalange withdraw the weapon slightly, causing Bettis’ diving hands to miss the target. As he dived, his head turned to face Haalange just as he released two searing blue bolts from the barrel. They burned into and through Bettis’ brain.

  The pilot fell at Remnant’s feet, the captain instinctively crouching to cradle him. “Bettis? Bettis?” Remnant yelled. But the pilot’s body was limp.

  A still dazed Aurora found her gu
n and fired a laser bolt in what appeared to her to be Haalange’s general direction. She succeeded only in hitting the dashboard, causing a small explosion and a widespread short circuit.

  Haalange swung to face Aurora and drew his pistol, the barrel pointing squarely at her face. Remnant was on him in a flash, with a dive that belied his years but revealed the captain’s passionate desire to protect his one remaining crew member.

  He pushed Haalange back, slamming him against the port side wall of the cockpit. The impact winded the South African, causing his grip on his gun to loosen enough for Remnant to steal it from his grasp and launch it across the cockpit.

  Remnant rained punches into the tanned face of the diamond zillionaire, his knuckles scraping against sun-toughened skin, filling searing blue eyes with tears. Each punch Remnant delivered meant something. “That’s for me missing my daughter’s wedding. That’s for me being unemployed. That’s for me going hungry. That’s for Aurora’s husband. That’s for each-of-her sons. And that’s for trying to take away what’s rightfully mine.”

  Remnant wanted to punch and punch and punch but Aurora pulled him away, screaming ‘enough’ after seeing purple mountains forming on Remnant’s knuckles and two rivers of blood trickle from Haalange’s nostrils.

  Aurora gripped Remnant. “It’s over, it’s over,” she cried. He nodded, closing his mouth to try and suppress the crying he needed to do. He didn’t want to, but he had to look at Bettis, lying motionless where he fell.

  Another short on the smoking dashboard distracted them. He ran over and saw the thruster still defiantly in the forward position where Bettis had left it, Earth, home, now slowly emerging from the peppering of stars.

  52

  Remnant slowly and gently lowered the floorboard and stood, head bowed next to Aurora.

  “I’m not very good at speeches,” he said talking to the floor. “I’ve never had to make one really. But I’d just like to say that I although I didn’t know you for long, Bettis, er… Mitch, and although we didn’t see eye-to-eye most of the time, in the end, I think, I hope, there was respect between the two of us. There certainly was from me. So I’d just like to say rest in peace, my friend.”

  “Amen,” said Aurora, which Remnant repeated. Before they left the hold, Remnant checked the floorboard on the opposite side of the hold under which they’d laid the body of the strangled guard.

  Haalange and his surviving guard were tied up back-to-back over the rear cockpit seat, the guard nodding off to sleep. “I won’t tell you again, stop leaning forward,” Haalange barked at him.

  “Sorry, boss,” the guard mumbled.

  When Aurora and Remnant entered, Haalange stared at the lump of diamond each was carrying like it was a ticking timebomb.

  “Don’t bring that anywhere near me,” he said.

  Aurora gently placed her lump on the co-pilot’s seat, while Remnant rested his at Haalange’s feet, just out of kicking reach. “Look after that for me, would you, please?” Remnant asked him, calmly.

  Haalange refused to look at it, glaring instead at Remnant, who walked over to the cockpit dashboard to inspect the damage. He was no expert, but it didn’t look good. Although the autopilot still seemed to be working, regular sparks were zipping along the wires underneath the dashboard.

  “Sorry about the damage,” Aurora said.

  “Don’t apologise. It’s not your fault.”

  “It’s terminal though, isn’t it?”

  Remnant shrugged. “If only Edgar was here, he’d know what to do.” Aurora smiled. “And if only I’d asked Bettis,” he continued. “All that time we spent bored in here, not talking or just arguing, I could have asked him to teach me to fly this thing.”

  “He actually gave me a couple of lessons,” said Aurora.

  “Yeah, and you looked like you enjoyed them.”

  “I didn’t. To level with you, the guy gave me the creeps. And I’ve already forgotten everything he said.”

  Remnant looked at Aurora as the ship began to shudder.

  “It’s not looking good, is it?” Haalange ventured.

  Remnant slowly walked over to him. “No, it’s not looking good. But this is, don’t you think?” He picked up the lump of diamond that was lying at Haalange’s feet and examined it closely, marvelling at its translucence, delighting at the spectrum of brilliance the lights and sparks from the ship’s dashboard were generating within it. “It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”

  Haalange was leaning as far back as he could from the diamond. “Keep it away from me.”

  Remnant moved the diamond nearer Haalange and gently rubbed one of its edges over Haalange’s sunworn skin, the smooth rock fizzing as it glided across each of his fine whiskers. The zillionaire held his breath and clenched his eyes shut.

  “Feel it, mate. Breathe it in. You’re one us now. Welcome to the world of the un-pure.”

  In an instant the guard’s hands were loose and he was on Remnant, landing a double fisted blow in between his shoulder blades that caused Remnant to drop the diamond.

  Haalange shook himself free from the wires that had imprisoned him and landed a weak but accurate right fist on Remnant’s right cheek.

  Aurora charged from the front of the ship, diving headfirst into Haalange and knocking him to the ground.

  Remnant grimaced at the pain that was shearing through his upper torso, the fresh injury in between his shoulders adding to the woes he was experiencing from the old wound to his right shoulder.

  He had a size and experience advantage over Haalange’s guard and thrust him through the cockpit door into the narrow confines of the short corridor that led to the hold. The guard pushed back, slamming Remnant against the bathroom door. Remnant bounced off it and thrust the guard into the galley, desperately wanting to get the guy’s head into the microwave for a few minutes at medium high.

  Haalange had been takenaback by the force of Aurora’s onslaught. She wasn’t afraid to scratch and bite wherever she could, and his ears and the side of his face bore some deep wounds. But he used his overwhelming strength advantage to throw her off, causing her to crash into the back of the pilot’s seat, her spine bearing the lion’s share of the impact and subsequent pain. Haalange looked around for a suitable weapon with which to finish her off and saw the lump of diamond at his feet.

  Remnant and the guard slammed each other into just about every surface they could in the narrow galley, and Remnant delivered merciless and repetitive blows to the guard’s midriff, causing him to double over. This gave Remnant his chance. He delivered his hardest body blow yet and felt the wind exit the guard’s lungs. In the seconds of flop that followed, Remnant twisted him round and thrust his head and torso into the trash chute. He slapped the ‘empty’ button with his palm. The guard’s legs kicked as he fought the huge suction that was exerting itself on his scalp and upper body. Then Remnant heard the most terrible ripping sound which was followed by horrific screams and the violent shaking of the lower half of the guard’s body.

  Remnant lifted the shuddering legs with ease, posting them into the trash chute, trying not to think about what had just happened to the guard. But it was difficult to think of anything else. He took a deep breath and then rushed into the cockpit.

  Aurora was kneeling behind the pilot’s seat, Haalange standing over her holding one of the diamond rocks high above his head, ready to bring it crashing down on her skull.

  “Nooo,” Remnant shouted with such a ferocity that Haalange couldn’t help but look over. Remnant dived at him, knocking him to the floor. The men fought, trying to punch as hard as they could, a difficult task at such close range. Remnant snarled through the anger of battle, but Haalange either dodged or soaked up his best punches. The younger man by a decade, Haalange’s energy advantage soon told. Remnant’s strength deserted him and Haalange grabbed him by the ears and rammed his head hard against the unforgiving cockpit floor. Dazed, Remnant was unable to move, Aurora looking on too weak to intervene.

&nbs
p; Haalange staggered to his feet, holding a diamond. He looked down at the small plastic toy, the man in a yellow hard hat. Mercilessly, he crushed it under his silver boot. He then raised the diamond above his head, preparing to bring it crashing down onto Remnant’s skull.

  Before he could, the ship was hit by a ferocious blast that threw him to the back of the cockpit. The dazed Remnant slid along the cockpit floor, through its open door and down the corridor towards the ship’s hold.

  Haalange was first to get to his feet and searched for the diamond rock he’d dropped. But the Baton Uric was being buffeted by wave after wave of savage turbulence. Remnant staggered back into the cockpit, ready to resume hostilities with Haalange. But neither man had any strength left in him. Instead, Remnant joined Haalange who was staring out of the cockpit window at thousands upon thousands of vessels heading towards and past them.

  “What is happening?” Haalange asked.

  Aurora joined them, marvelling at the sight of battalions of man-made extraterrestrial vehicles heading in the same direction. Wherever they were going, some were destined not to make it. A few spun out of control, others collided, shearing flimsy wings from rusting fuselages. There were a fair few explosions too, little balls of flame that denoted a malfunctioning rocket engine here, or poor piloting skills there.

  Remnant reached down to the slowly burning dashboard and switched on the radio. He was greeted by a confusion of feedback-tainted messages.

  Haalange banged on the port side window of the cockpit. “Where are you all going?” he cried. “Go back, go back, there is nothing out there. The asteroid is gone.”

  “I don’t think they’re after the diamond,” Remnant told him, “I just think they want to get off the planet.”

  Remnant sat down in the pilot’s seat and flicked off the autopilot, not wanting to leave the task of dodging the fleeing ships to a computer that was sparking and shorting. Now pilot as well as captain, he experienced the sensation of being in a computer game as he swung the control stick from side to side to avoid the oncoming ships.