Jack Strong and the Red Giant

by Heys Wolfenden

  Either they were going to get gobbled-up by the black hole or smashed into pieces by the space junk.

  I have to try something, I have to! What would Vyleria do? But Vyleria wasn’t there – He was.

  Then he had an idea. It was the only one worth trying. It was crazy, pure space-crazy madness, but he was out of options. He had to try something.

  He brought up the star chart and then switched to the one that showed the local solar system. He then clicked on the black hole and dragged the icon of their spaceship over it.

  He let go.

  WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

  The spaceship flew out of the debris stream and went straight for the open mouth of the black hole, where it then bounced off and flew at a million times the speed of light in the other direction.

  “You’ve done it Jack! You’ve done it!” they all screamed behind him.

  He could scarcely believe it himself. He had done it. Jack Strong, the boy who had never done anything brave until two days ago had just saved the spaceship from the jaws of a super-massive black hole. He was now ready for anything.

  Chapter 20: Hit and Run

  How could I have been so stupid? Vyleria thought, letting HIM get the better of me!

  It shouldn’t have happened. It couldn’t have happened.

  But it did happen!

  She had been far too naïve and trusting. She thought that Xylem would be honourable and would stick to the rules, but she was wrong. He’d rammed her car with his, she'd flown off the race course, crashed, and now he was captain.

  Captain. The word stuck in her mouth like a bad taste. Even now she could scarcely believe it. With Xylem captain, anything could happen. And it was all her fault.

  He was repellant, disgusting. She didn’t like him. She didn’t trust him. She didn’t even want him aboard the ship. It was probably him that had brought the black goo on board in the first place.

  Ever since she’d lost the race she hadn’t been herself. “Why didn’t I realise the bird planet was all a simulation? Of course it was a simulation! How could it not be? How could I have been so STUPID?”

  And now everyone was laughing at her.

  How would Jack feel about her now? Would he still look up to her?

  She doubted it.

  He would probably be on Xylem’s side now…

  With a sudden flourish a burst of sunlight lit-up the small moon she was standing on, bathing her in light. Even through her spacesuit she could feel its glow as it danced around the coal-black rock.

  She always felt at home here on Xanthos, one of her planet’s eighteen moons. Here at the North Pole it was completely empty, with much of the mining operations located around the equator. She loved the hum and throb of civilisation but every now and again she had to get away from it all. She first came here on the eve of her maiden space flight and she had been coming back ever since.

  It had calmed her then and it was calming her now…

  She took one last look at the row of dark, jagged peaks and left the moon behind.

  The corridor was empty.

  She breathed a huge sigh of relief. She had been ready for them to jump out and start laughing at her again.

  SMACK!

  Something large and heavy rammed into their spaceship.

  What was that?

  Then something hit them again, only this time it was louder and with more force. The whole corridor resounded like thunder.

  What are they doing up there? She wondered.

  She thought about asking Xylem or Jack about what was going on, but thought better of it. All they would do is laugh at her anyway…

  There were a few more sounds like they were passing through a solar hurricane and then after that there was complete silence.

  She still didn’t try and contact them, but strangely enough neither did they.

  They are gloating, she thought. They are laughing at me. HE wants me to beg and plead to come back up to the control room. I won’t give him the satisfaction!

  All of this was happening because she had lost that race. If only she could have the time back and race him again, if only she had a spaceship…

  There was a shimmer of blue light and then the next thing Vyleria knew a spaceship was hovering in front of her.

  It looked like a small silver triangle, like some kind of aerial drone. It had to be no more than six feet high and wide at best. Perhaps it was remotely-piloted? But then how was she supposed to fly it?

  Then she remembered how she came on board in the first place. And so stepping forward, she reached out her hand and touched it.

  She felt the spacecraft rushing all over her skin, attaching itself to her hands, arms and legs, even her head. She could even feel its long silver tendrils seeping through her pores, attaching themselves to her brain, to her nerves.

  The sensation was a little similar to the pilot machine in the control room. But this was different, even more intense - it was like SHE was the ship. She could feel its strength and its technology surge through her like waves of electricity. Instantly she could sense everything the ship did: the controls, the weapons, its speed, the corridor outside, even the temperature. But most of all she felt its power. Its power to move and its ability to go anywhere she wanted. Her brain controlled everything. She was the captain now.

  With the ship’s eyes she could see the corridor curving away into the distance. There was no screen, it just was. It was like she was hovering in mid-air.

  She had thought that the hover chair was advanced but this was on a different level entirely.

  She turned the spaceship around and flew down the rapidly expanding corridor as fast as she could.

  She had never gone so quick before.

  She went faster and faster and faster.

  One lap.

  Then two.

  Then ten.

  A hundred.

  A thousand.

  She stopped counting when the walls, ceiling and floor blurred together into one giant, silver beam of light.

  But she wanted more. She wanted to go into space, to revel, to explore.

  And then just like that she was there, suspended in its great emptiness. The tiny points of a billion, billion stars all flickering at once.

  She looked around. There was a huge, bright red sun gleaming far away in the distance, surrounded by the biggest, most gargantuan ring of asteroids she had ever seen. There were no planets anywhere.

  She stepped on the accelerator again.

  She went from a few miles per hour to half the speed of light in a few seconds.

  If the ship was hers, then space was too as she whooshed and whirled, shimmied and shot. She flew up, down, banking left and right; towards the bright crimson sun; in and around the rugged craters of asteroids and the sparkling tails of comets. She felt like some kind of space eagle.

  “Xylem!” she shouted, not knowing if he could hear her.

  A few seconds passed. “Yesss,” he screeched, in a voice that sounded in her head. “Where are you?”

  “I’m outside,” she said as she twirled past the nose of the spaceship.

  “Wait… how?”

  “Never mind how! I want to race you again. If I win, I’m captain.”

  “There’ll be no raccce.”

  “What, are you scared I will beat you?”

  “I’m captain now. No need to raccce.”

  “What do you mean? That’s not fair.”

  “Not on my planet,” he hissed.

  “LISTEN,” she shouted. “I want to race you again. And you’re going to let me. I can easily beat you, I know it. But if you are too cowardly to admit it then just say so.”

  “No come back, I COMMAND you!”

  “Who do you think you are telling ME what to do?”

  “Your captain.”

  “You'll never be in charge of me!” she shouted, anger raging through her like a storm.

  With that she shot off into the pitch-black distanc
e, losing herself amidst the asteroids, desperate to get away from HIM.

  Vyleria had been exploring the asteroid field for about an hour when she saw two silver-coloured dots rapidly approaching.

  Finally Xylem had given in.

  “Vyleria!” shouted Jack.

  Her heart sank. She couldn't believe it. Where was Xylem?

  “Vyleria, what are you doing? We just escaped from a black hole. This is no time to be playing games. You can race Xylem later.”

  “A black hole? Yeah, right.”

  “Seriously.”

  Jack brought her up to date with all that had happened after she stormed out of the control room: the space graveyard, the mysterious alien, his warning about the scourge (whoever they were), and how they were all nearly sucked into a black hole.

  “So that’s what those noises were?”

  “Yeah, luckily I managed to find out how to star jump away just in time. But I still can’t figure out how I did it.”

  “I think it probably had something to do with the fact that by star-jumping towards the black hole you in effect overloaded it with energy. This then lead to a ricochet effect which propelled you away to safety. Which was lucky, otherwise…”

  “We’d all be black hole food by now.”

  “Yeah, you could say that,” she said.

  “Listen Vyleria, I know you don’t like Xylem.”

  “Don’t like him? I HATE him!”

  “Okay, you hate him. I understand.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course. He’s always trying to challenge you and undermine you. He’s just a bully really, like Gaz was with me. If I hadn’t worked out how to star-jump he was going to throw me into a prison cell.”

  “So you don’t like him either?”

  “No way, he’s repugnant. But you don’t have to race him now. You can race him another time.”

  “But I can’t stand him being captain. I can't even stand being in the same room as him.”

  “I can’t either, Vyleria, but we can work together to get rid of him when he least expects it.”

  “When he least expects it,” she said, nodding her head.

  “Yes, now come on let’s get back to the ship. I want to show you how to star-jump. You’re going to love it!”

  “Okay fine, thanks Jack.”

  “Don’t mention it. Are you ready?

  “Yes,” she said a little sheepishly.

  They had gotten to within a few hundred feet of their spaceship when it suddenly turned around and fired at them at point-blank range.

  It wasn’t until she began to spin out of control that Vyleria realised that she’d been hit, a purple fountain gushing out of her right leg.

  Chapter 21: The Red Giant

  Vyleria’s ship exploded in a huge ball of orange flame.

  “Vyleria!” Jack shouted. “Vyleria!”

  There was no reply.

  Jack thought that her ship had been destroyed but when the flames drifted away it was still there, a long black gash jagging all the way down the front. He expected to see her lifeless corpse come floating out at any moment, only for the ship to magically repair itself, like someone had pulled a big zip up its hull.

  “Vyleria!” he shouted again. “Vyleria!”

  Still there was no answer.

  Jack’s heart was hammering through his chest.

  What was going on? Why was their spaceship firing at them?

  He had no time to dwell on this when another flurry of sonic cannon fire arced his way. It looked like blue fire as it shot through space, cutting up an asteroid into a gazillion slices.

  He slipped out of the way just in time as another asteroid disintegrated behind him. Then it fired some kind of missile with a long green tail.

  Jack swerved out of the way just in time, turning around as it lanced a crater, obliterating the small planetoid in an instant.

  “We’ve got to get out of here!” yelled Ros, as a storm of red hot needles flew their way.

  “Wait, we have to get Vyleria,” said Jack.

  “She’s dead Jack, leave her.”

  “No, she isn’t Ros. I’ve got to save her.”

  “She’s gone, just face it. We haven't heard from her since her ship was hit. There’s nothing you can do. And even if you could she’s right in front of the spaceship. You wouldn’t last a second.”

  “But Ros, I have an idea,” he said as another burst of cannon fire streaked over his head.

  “Forget it,” said Ros, as he dodged a barrage of blue lightning. “I know what you’re thinking - you want to go out there and rescue her and be the hero. You’ll get killed for sure.”

  “Look, I need your help okay. We’ve got to rescue her, we have to. Don’t ask me why but I know she’s alive. When I say so I want you to fly as fast as you can towards the spaceship, guns blazing.”

  “WHAT? Are you crazy? Our weapons have had no impact so far. I’ll be toast.”

  “No you won’t, it’s the last thing they’ll expect.”

  “Yes, and then they’ll blow me up.”

  “No, they won’t. Because when you do I’m going to head out and go to Vyleria. After that they’ll be shooting at me!”

  “And when you get to Vyleria then what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know; I’ll think of something.”

  “You’ll think of something! What kind of plan is that?”

  “Look, it’s better than no plan at all Ros. They’re getting closer and closer; eventually we are going to run out of asteroids to hide behind.”

  “Alright,” he said after a few seconds, as more blue fire cut through a swathe of asteroids next to him. “I’ll do it. If not for you then for her.”

  “Okay,” said Jack, “let’s do this!”

  Ros shot up so fast he looked like a big ball of white light arcing through space.

  A blue hurricane swung towards him.

  It missed.

  Then it was Jack’s turn as he spun out from behind a big black shadow and arrowed straight for Vyleria.

  He braced himself for more incoming fire, but nothing happened.

  He glanced towards Ros as he charged straight for the spaceship like a battering ram. Both of them were surrounded by a swarm of green and blue light. The diversion seemed to be working.

  “VYLERIA!” Jack shouted, closing in on her motionless spaceship.

  Silence.

  “Vyleria are you alive? Talk to me.”

  Nothing but the boom of sonic cannon fire.

  Maybe she was dead…

  His ship pulled up next to hers.

  “Vyleria?”

  “Jack…”

  “Yes Vyleria, it’s me. Are you hurt?”

  “My leg. I can’t stop the bleeding. There’s blood everywhere.” She sounded weak, faint.

  “Just hold on. You’ll be okay, I promise.”

  Then another voice rang through his head. “Jack, I’ve been hit!”

  “Ros, what’s wrong? How bad is it?”

  “I’m on fire! I’m on fire!”

  “Just hold on, I’ll get to you,” he said, trying not to panic. “Vyleria, Ros can you still fly your spaceships?”

  “Yes,” they both murmured.

  “Good, then listen to me. When I say so, fly as fast as you can towards the red star.”

  “But Jack…” said Ros.

  “I know, I know, but we have to do SOMETHING. Hiding amongst these asteroids isn’t working. We won’t last much longer. Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” they both said, Vyleria’s voice sounding fainter than ever.

  “Okay, on three.”

  As soon as Jack counted down to zero they shot off into the oily, black depths towards the red monster before them.

  Immediately their spaceship gave chase, blue lightning streaking towards their tiny spaceships.

  Jack counted five dull thuds on the back of his spaceship. How badly was he hit?

  But he was still flying and that was
all that mattered; and Ros and Vyleria too.

  Why were they firing at them? Had some kind of alien force taken over the spaceship? Had it malfunctioned somehow?

  He ducked and weaved, trying to escape, space exploding all around him. He focused on the giant, red splodge in front of him. Closer now.

  Jack could hear the blue bolts pinging off his spacecraft every few seconds.

  He was beginning to lose control.

  He could smell smoke. He could feel the flames, the intense heat.

  It was all over.

  They were going to die. He would never see his mum and dad again.

  The star loomed in front of him. The glow was immense. They were going to crash into it any time now.

  Then a huge shadow passed in front of the star.

  It was a planet. The solar system wasn’t planetless at all. It must have been hidden behind the star.

  Jack did a quick scan. “Vyleria, Ros. Make for that planet. It has oxygen. It’s our only chance to escape!”

  “Can you hear me?” He shouted, after they didn’t respond. “Head for that planet.”

  More silence.

  Just as Jack was giving them up for dead Ros' and Vyleria's ships began to lurch towards the dark sphere in front of them, though his queries still went unanswered. How bad are they hurt? Why won’t they respond?

  The planet loomed ahead of them like a cancer, blotting out everything; even the star itself.

  Three blazing, shooting stars, they plunged through its atmosphere as a war-torn vista of spindly mountains and sprawling deserts gaped beneath them like hell itself.

  Jack didn’t know how to land a normal spaceship, let alone one so shot-up. He was going to crash.

  He picked up speed.

  He went quicker and quicker and quicker, shooting down to the surface like a red hot dart.

  He clipped a mountain.

  Then another as he crashed from one mountain to the next, sending a shower of stones raining down to the valley below.

  His last thought was of Vyleria as he plummeted towards the boulder-strewn desert, bouncing like a skipping stone, before his spacecraft screeched to a rubble-strewn stop.

  Chapter 22: The Prisoner