“Graphite,” Ros mumbled.
“Graphite?” Jack had heard of this before, but he couldn't remember where. But Ros didn't elaborate any further; he just put a protective arm around the dull grey rocks, cracking them one after another with his teeth.
And Padget was eating… well pretty much everything.
He wasn’t even sat down either. He just stood there scooping up mouthful after mouthful with his hands. Sometimes he would take a bite from a leg or a breast of an animal, whilst at other times he would focus on a dessert, slurping that up as quickly as he could. On occasion he would also stab his fork into one of Jack’s chips, a bit of Vyleria’s fish, and he even scooped-up one of Ros’ beans, though he spat that out soon after.
There was one dish that he wouldn’t touch however, and that was Xylem’s. He was eating what looked like some kind of Beetle larvae, which slithered and squirmed with some big, bulbous worms, their bottoms oozing yellow pus. It looked disgusting. So much so that Jack had to avert his gaze in order to keep his appetite. Xylem however, munched and crunched through it all as eagerly as a child would a tub of ice cream.
And Grunt was eating…
Fish and Chips again. He was wolfing it down as quickly as his hands could shovel it into his mouth. Plate after plate disappeared this way. Judging from his appetite Jack wondered if he had an external stomach too…
Perhaps I should open an intergalactic fish and chip shop, Jack thought. Beat that Neil Armstrong!
When he’d finished Jack was so full that he could barely try any of the other dishes. It was easily the most he'd eaten in his entire life. He’d put away three plates of fish and chips, two of the most chocolaty chocolate puddings ever, and five glasses of Vimto all-in-all.
After dinner they settled down by the warm, crackling fire, their hover chairs gliding along with them.
“What do you think happened to the crew?” asked Jack, feeling the warm glow of the fire on his face.
“Maybe it doesn’t need a crew,” said Ros.
“Well, if that’s so then what are we doing here?” asked Vyleria.
“How did everyone end-up here?” asked Jack. “I was playing football when I saw this spaceship in the sky. It chased me for a while and then this huge silver arm shot out and brought me on board.”
“Oh really,” said Vyleria. “That’s not what happened to me. I came here voluntarily. I knew there was nothing to be frightened of. I came on board to explore.”
“Me too,” said Ros, giving Jack a glare.
“I just woke up here,” said Padget grumpily. “And I want to get off too.”
“Xylem, what about you?” asked Jack.
“The sssame as you,” he said, eyeing Jack.
“What? You were attacked too?”
“Yesss.”
“Really Jack, I’m not sure it attacked you,” said Vyleria.
“Well then, how else do you explain chasing me across a field and then dragging me on board against my will?”
“It was probably what you needed,” said Vyleria, looking thoughtful.
“What I needed?”
“Yes,” said Ros. “Because of your lack of experience with extraterrestrials your natural tendency was to run away. So the spaceship fixed that.”
“Some fix,” said Jack. “I almost broke my neck.”
“But you didn’t, did you?” said Ros. “You were never in any real danger.”
“No, not until I met you,” said Jack. “You HIT me…”
“BOYS!” said Vyleria. “Enough. There’s no sense arguing about this.”
“What's football?” asked Padget, changing the subject. “You were talking about it earlier. Do you kick a foot around?”
“What? No, of course not,” said Jack.
“You play it with your feet. Well, if you’re the goalie you can use your hands. You kick a ball around and try to put it through the goal posts.”
“What? YOU have to do all the work. There’s no one to do it for you?”
“Well no, of course not. That's the point. It’s a physical game.”
“I'm sorry,” said Padget, holding up his hands in disgust. “It sounds too much like hard work. Games like that are best left for the Skavs. Perhaps if I had one of my servo-bots with me though, it could carry me.”
Jack wondered what it would be like to play football with a robot. Though if Padget was yelling and screaming on its shoulders whilst it nutmegged him and tackled him and scored goal after goal he wasn't sure if he'd enjoy it.
“Can we focus on what we are doing here please?” asked Vyleria, sounding a little annoyed. “We can talk about football and Skavs and servobots and whatever else another time.”
The room went quiet. “Okay, so why are we alone?” she continued. “Where is the crew? Where is the welcoming committee, so to speak?”
“I think it is a test,” said Ros. “A leadership challenge. Whoever solves the puzzle wins a prize or a reward of some kind.”
“Or perhaps it’s all gone wrong,” said Padget. “Perhaps they are all dead.”
“Then where are their bodies?” asked Jack. “And besides, if they were dead how did the spacecraft know where to pick us all up?”
“Perhaps there is no crew,” said Vyleria. “Perhaps there never was, perhaps it doesn't need one.”
“But that’s impossible,” said Jack. “All spaceships need a crew, everybody knows that.”
“It’s not impossible,” said Vyleria. “On my planet we have many spaceships that can fly by themselves, though nowhere near as advanced as this one of course.”
“Us too,” said Ros.
“Yes, but don’t forget that there’s a control room that is clearly designed to be operated by people,” said Jack.
“That’s true,” said Vyleria. “Look, it doesn't really matter at the moment. What matters is that we are alone on this spaceship and we have to deal with it. We all nearly died before because we didn’t know what we were doing. We’ve got to learn and learn quickly.”
“Yes, you're right,” said Ros. “We should all find out how to fly this spaceship and how to use its various systems.”
“Yes, but we can't be fighting all the time,” she continued. “We have to learn to get on with each other, to overcome what separates us and focus on what binds us together.”
Everybody nodded at this, even Xylem.
“First though, I think we need to get some rest,” said Jack, looking at Grunt and Padget who looked like they were about to fall asleep at any moment.
“Good idea. I’m a little tired too,” said Vyleria, yawning.
“Where shall we sleep?” he asked, looking at a spot beside the fire. “Here?”
“We can for now, but we will have to find something more permanent soon.”
“Yes,” said Jack, yawning, the urge to sleep surging through his body.
They had all only been asleep for about five minutes when they heard a loud, blaring sound echoing throughout the spaceship.
Louder and louder it whined, screaming and whirring, as the lights all around the ship flashed and danced through all the colours of the rainbow.
Then they heard a message repeated over and over again like a machine gun.
“INTRUDER IN THE CONTROL ROOM! INTRUDER IN THE CONTROL ROOM! INTRUDER IN THE CONTROL ROOM! INTRUDER IN THE CONTROL ROOM! INTRUDER IN THE CONTROL ROOM!
Chapter 13: Space Hospital
Like a herd of cattle, they stampeded into the control room.
The space goo was everywhere, oozing across the floor, onto the viewing screen and dribbling across several panels. Several fingers rose-up immediately, clawing and probing at the air.
Then it started to wriggle towards them like a den of snakes, slowly at first, but then quicker and quicker.
A small ball of goo suddenly flew through the air, hitting the wall behind them.
And then another and another.
One hit Padget on the arm.
“I’m on fire! I’m
on fire!” he yelled, jumping up and down like a jack-in-the box. “Get it off me.”
Jack ran over to try and help him, only for a black blob to fling off Padget and hit his hand.
Now it was his turn to howl and shriek in pain.
Jack looked down at his hand. There was a round hole where his palm had been and the oil-like substance was now climbing up his arm, stripping away bits of his skin.
The pain was unbearable. He could smell his own skin as it burnt away like a pork chop on a barbecue.
He was going to die. For a brief moment he thought of his mum and dad. He would never get to see them again.
Then he collapsed and blacked-out, his head hitting one of the hover-seats as he crumpled to the floor, blobs of black goo slithering all over his body.
“Jack, are you okay?”
Jack slowly opened his eyes. Vyleria was crouched over him, her eyes as bright as comets.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes,” he said, not sure if he was or not.
“What happened?”
“You passed-out.”
It took a few seconds for his head to clear, but then it all came back to him.
The black goo. His burning skin. The searing pain.
He looked at his hand to see how bad it was.
He couldn’t believe it. It was healing before his eyes.
Flaps of skin were forming over his raw flesh, pieces of bone and fingernails too.
He couldn’t feel any pain either.
“H-how?”
“It was Padget actually,” said Vyleria. “After the attack he stumbled into this room. He must have thought about going to a hospital or something for suddenly the whole room transformed into one. Which was lucky because if he hadn’t…”
“I’d be dead.”
“We all would.”
Jack looked around the bright, sparkling room. Ros, Padget and Grunt were lying on beds that hovered in mid-air. Padget’s lower jaw was being slowly re-assembled and five of Grunt’s toes were being re-attached. Ros glared at him with his one remaining eye, whilst his other was slowly being reconstructed cell by cell. Next to each of them was a transparent glass container, overflowing with sweets and chocolates.
Jack dived in straight away.
“I don’t understand. How does all this work?” asked Jack after his umpteenth wine gum and fruit pastille.
“The computer seems to do it all Jack, that’s why there are no doctors or nurses. You bring a patient in. The computer examines them. Then it starts to treat them straight away. It’s really efficient, perfect in fact.”
Within a few seconds Jack’s hand was completely healed.
He flexed it over and over again to test it out. It felt great, better than ever.
“What happened?” he asked. “I thought we were dead for sure.”
“We almost were,” she said. “It was Xylem who saved us. He has been testing out the weapons ever since he got here. Apparently, he had found one earlier that can freeze any kind of matter. One shot took care of it.”
“That’s all it took to destroy it?”
“Oh, he didn’t destroy it. It’s been transferred to a storage room for the moment.”
“Why not destroy it?” asked Jack. “What use is it to us?”
“I don’t know. He said it might come in useful later,” said Vyleria doubtfully. “Yes, I know what you're thinking Jack and you're right, but don't worry I can handle Xylem, I'll keep an eye on him.”
“Okay, just be careful,” said Jack. “He's up to something, I'm sure of it.”
“What could he be up to in here? He's all alone with nowhere to go. He just needs to get used to us, that's all.”
“Hang on then, how come the goo burnt us here and not when we were outside?
“It was because of your spacesuits,” said Ros sharply.
Jack turned to face him. His right eye was now half-reconstructed, but his stare was still as cold and blank as ever.
“What do you mean?” asked Jack. “I’m wearing the same clothes now that I wore in space.”
“Yes, but when you go into space a thin invisible shield spreads around your clothes, protecting you from the radiation and anything else that’s out there. Otherwise you would be dead now, Jack.”
“I did feel a slight tingling sensation all over my body after the breathing apparatus appeared. Perhaps that was it.”
“Yes, perhaps it was Jack,” said Ros sarcastically, his eye completely re-constructed.
“Okay, one more thing,” said Jack, ignoring Ros. “How did the black goo get on board? If we had brought it on with us then wouldn't it have attacked us straight away? Why a delay of several hours?”
“I don't know. Either it takes a few hours to become active in a new environment, or...”
“Or what?”
“Or,” she said, lowering her voice. “Someone brought it on board deliberately.”
“What? Why?”
“I don't know Jack, but I'm going to find out.”
Jack left the ship’s hospital a few minutes later and walked down the corridor. He made sure no one was following him.
What had happened earlier? Had someone tried to sabotage the ship? And if so, who? He didn't think it was Vyleria for obvious reasons and the same went for Grunt, but Xylem, Ros and Padget - what about them? It was suspicious that Xylem knew how to disable the black goo at the exact moment that it looked like they were losing control of the ship. If he knew what weapon would work, then why not use it earlier? And why only store it? Why not destroy it? Why keep it if it was that dangerous? Then there was Ros. He didn't like him that was for sure, or even anyone else for that matter. It could be him. But he’d been wounded in the attack and as far as he knew at the time there would have been no way to grow his eye back. Unless of course it was a double bluff to throw the others off the scent? What about Padget? He might be hopelessly spoilt and a serial complainer, but a sabotager and a potential murderer? It seemed like too much of a stretch. Besides, he doubted he even knew how to bring the black goo aboard in the first place. Then there was the invisible girl he had seen earlier. Who was she? If she was invisible it was possible that she could move around the ship without detection and get up to all kinds of mischief. But like Padget, would she know how to bring the black goo on board? He didn’t know, but one thing was for sure he would have to watch all of them very closely and be on his guard…
Jack had lost count of how long he had been walking for when he saw a room full of soil and leaves. He peered his head in, unsure as to what might be lurking inside.
There were bugs everywhere.
In the grass, on the trees, flickering through the air. Some were as small as ants, whereas others were as big as cats, their ruby, black eyes the size of saucers. At one point he thought that some giant beast was stalking him, until he realised that its ‘eyes’ were in fact three blood red suns on the horizon. What is this place?
Jack had just taken this in when he saw a pale green creature inching towards him. It walked not on legs, but on a series of prongs. It moved slowly and gingerly, its flat, grooved head bobbing up and down as it went.
It got closer and closer, its little pink tongue tasting the air as it lurched forward.
Jack was just about to back away into the corridor when a huge pair of jagged teeth emerged from the soil, wrenching off one of the creature’s prongs.
Then there was another flash of teeth.
And another.
Jack could hear the cruel monotony of its cries intermingled with the satisfied sounds of the other creature as it gnawed on its limbs.
Jack was just about to run when the soil reared up in a brown wave, swiftly followed by a mouthful of teeth.
“Deliciousss,” hissed Xylem, all teeth, claws and tentacles.
“What… what are you doing?” gasped Jack, unsure if he was next on the menu.
“Hungry,” he rasped.
“F-for what?” asked Jack, still not sure
if he was next or not.
“Wogglesss. Tasssty.”
“But it’s an insect. It's disgusting. Besides, it’s cruel eating them alive.”
“What’sss cruel?”
“When you cause something pain.”
“No pain.”
“Yes there is, can’t you hear it crying?”
`“No, it’s sssinging.”
“You’re kidding! It’s dying. Can’t you tell?”
“Impossssible.”
“What do you mean? You’ve ripped seven of its legs off!”
“They will grow back.”
Jack was just about to say how stupid this was when all of a sudden seven stumps began to slowly sprout from where Xylem had ripped them off.
“Sssee,” wheezed Xylem, eyeing up another appendage.
Jack looked at the Woggle and felt sorry for it. It was a perpetual pet to Xylem’s hunger. How often he ripped off its legs was anyone’s guess.
“Do you want to tassste one?” hissed Xylem, holding up the limb from earlier. “They’re ssscrumptiousss.”
Jack took one look at the thin, pale leg-like thing (still twitching) and thought better of it. “I'll stick to fish and chips, thanks.”
“Your choiccce,” said Xylem in his best rattlesnake accent. “It just means there’sss more for me.”
“What is this place?” asked Jack, trying to get the insect feast out of his head. “How did you find it?”
“Wanted to sssleep. Appeared.”
“YOU MEAN YOU SLEEP HERE?”
“Sure. Where elssse?”
“Where's your bed then?”
“Here,” hissed Xylem, coiling around a long, twisted branch, his bones cracking and creaking as he did so.
Jack couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to sleep in a tree, never mind in a room full of dirt, leaves and insects, but this was a strange ship with even stranger people on board. For all he knew they could all sleep like this…
“No thanks,” said Jack, returning down the corridor. “I'll find my own room.”
“Pleassse yourself.”
As soon as Jack found the others he informed them about Xylem's discovery. Sure enough with everyone tired and sleepy (Grunt and Padget were already curled up on the floor merrily snoozing away), they one-by-one began to wander off down the corridor in search of their own bedrooms.
Jack Strong and the Red Giant Page 8