Arthur and the Andarran Rescue

by Craig Speakes

  ‘What are you doing here?’ demanded Char.

  Gravis sneered. ‘Making sure of our arrangement,’ he said, signalling for two of the crew he had brought with him to take up positions opposite Char and his fighters. ‘I wouldn’t want you to be getting ahead of yourself, would I now?’

  ‘You have no reason to doubt our accord, Gravis.’

  Gravis laughed. It sounded guttural and unpleasant.

  ‘It is your greed that drives this double-cross,’ he said, pointing to Arthur’s group. ‘Who is to say that, like the wind, it will not once again find a new course in which to blow?’

  ‘Damn pirates!’ cursed Char.

  After that, Gravis left the cabin, leaving behind the two men he had brought with him.

  ‘So much for your girlfriend,’ whispered Sky.

  Arthur felt his ears burn. ‘Sky, stop it!’

  ‘What? I’m just saying that she might not be as nice as you thought, that’s all.’

  Arthur looked at Luca and Sava. They were standing together by the door. He could see them whispering to each other when Char wasn’t watching.

  He lost track of how long they were forced to sit there. Through the cabin window, he gazed out into the empty sea, watching the ice roof become brighter as the day went on. From time to time, other ships appeared far off in the distance. He found himself wishing he could be on one of them and wondered where they might be going. Slowly the day began to fade as the ship set down by an island and cut its engines. Gravis appeared, flanked by more of his crew.

  ‘It is time for us to part,’ Char growled. ‘Get up!’

  ‘Where are you taking them?’ asked Luca.

  Char, who was already walking towards the door, halted.

  ‘Your concern for these off-worlders is troubling, Lucana.’ He paused. ‘The Spice Sea holds many dangers; you would do well to remember where your loyalties lie! Faha – move the prisoners!’

  Arthur and the rest of the group were escorted out of the cabin and onto the deck. The ship had tied up to a worn-out jetty in front of several ruined dwellings not far away.

  ‘Where are you going, Char?’ demanded Gravis, behind them. Arthur glanced round to see Gravis standing on the deck, plasma rifle in his hand, aimed in their direction. More of Gravis’s crew stood beside him. One of them had mounted the plasma cannon and was turning it towards them.

  ‘You know I am to hand these Earth-dwellers directly to the Solarians,’ called out Char.

  ‘Indeed you will, my friend, but do not imagine that I would let you risk your life alone!’ Gravis grinned.

  Char nodded to Faha to lead them off the ship.

  ‘You have no favours with them, Gravis.’

  Faha ushered them quickly down the boarding ramp and along the jetty.

  ‘And what favours do you think that you have with me?’ said Gravis angrily.

  Arthur, who was watching Char, saw him do something strange with his facial expressions, darting quick glances between Faha and several of his fighters.

  ‘Gravis, old friend, is there no honour left amongst deal-makers?’

  Again Char seemed to twitch the side of his face. This time, Faha and the others were waiting for the signal. No sooner had he made it than they raised their weapons and, without word or warning, opened fire, felling the crew member manning the plasma cannon.

  ‘Everyone down!’ yelled the Major.

  Arthur dropped to the floor as Gravis and his crew began to shoot back, filling the air with plasma fire. Char and his fighters spread out, taking cover behind whatever they could find. A vicious firefight ensued. Keeping his head down, Arthur spotted one of the little dwellings not too far away.

  ‘Major!’ He called out. ‘Over there!’ The Major looked at where he was pointing.

  ‘Good lad!’ He shouted. ‘Everyone on me, now!’

  It was about twenty-five metres to the building. Without natural cover or weapons to protect themselves, they were at the mercy of both Gravis and Char. Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Char momentarily turn and aim his rifle at the Major, but then he seemed to change his mind. Gravis was not so merciful.

  ‘Don’t let the Earth-dwellers escape!’ He cried, his venomous growl audible over the exploding plasma bolts.

  Everything after that was a blur. Arthur kept low and, taking Sky by the hand, ran as fast as he could to the ruined house, weapons fire raining down on them. Captain Schmidt stumbled and almost fell several metres before he reached the ruin. Arthur saw he had been hit in the arm. The Major, who was bringing up the rear of the group, grabbed him and hauled him behind the shelter of the dwelling.

  ‘Anyone else hurt?’ He called out, scanning the group before tending to the Captain.

  Arthur sat, his back to the wall, listening to the sounds of the battle raging behind them.

  ‘I wonder what’s going to happen now,’ said Sky.

  ‘What’s the difference? One side will win and we’ll still get sold,’ he said, noticing that the Captain was looking pale and in pain. He winced as he remembered when he’d been shot on the bridge of the Gorkan, and how he’d had to spend time lying in one of the Treskans’ regenerators.

  ‘Couldn’t we try to make a run for it?’

  ‘Where are we going to run to? The island is flat and we have no way off it,’ said Yan, who had been tracking their course on his map before Char had taken it off him.

  ‘Do you know where we are?’ asked Arthur.

  ‘I’m pretty sure that we’re on the island of Orca. It’s the only island between where we were and where we could possibly be, given our velocity and heading.’

  No one really noticed that the shooting had ended. It was only when Margot told everyone to listen that all they heard was silence.

  ‘Cat! Get out!’ said Arthur, suddenly struck by an idea. He opened the top of his pack.

  ‘What!? Why? Are you mad!’ meowed the cat.

  Arthur picked him up and pulled him out.

  ‘It’s not big enough for you, if that’s what you are thinking!’ said the cat angrily.

  He reached into the pack and rummaged around, panicking slightly when it wasn’t where he’d expected it to be. In the end he found it – it had slipped further down the side. Grabbing the pistol, he pulled it out. It was Captain Hawk’s pistol, which the Major had given him on Tresk. Although it was heavy to lug about everywhere, Arthur had felt unable to part with it after everything they had been through. Cocking the weapon, he was about to hand it to the Major, when Luca appeared around the corner. In one swift move he released the safety catch and aimed at her.

  ‘Put down your gun, Keeper. We have no quarrels, you and I,’ she said calmly. Arthur noticed that there was blood running down the side of her face and her weapon was shouldered.

  Arthur shot a glance at the Major. He nodded at him.

  ‘It’s okay, I don’t think she’s the one we need to fear.’

  Arthur lowered his gun.

  ‘Come,’ she said. ‘It is not safe to remain on Orca, the enemy will be here any minute.’

  ‘What about Char?’ asked Sky, echoing the thoughts of everyone.

  ‘Char has fallen.’

  ‘And Gravis?’ asked Arthur

  ‘He too has passed. Come – we have no more time!’

  ‘And you? Why are you helping us?’ asked Margot, as the group tentatively followed Luca back towards the ship.

  ‘I am helping you because I believe that Char and his followers acted with great dishonour… I will take you to the Northern Plateau,’ she said, wiping the blood and grime away from the side of her face.

  No one had expected her to say that. Margot could be heard breathing a loud sigh of relief as Sava appeared from inside another ruin. She came and spoke quietly to Luca.

  ‘I always liked that girl!’ purred
the cat.

  ‘Evidently,’ said Sky.

  All around them lay the aftermath of the firefight. The ground was blackened and potholed, the figures of Char and his fighters lay scattered. Arthur tried not to look but it was hard to stop himself. On and around the ship, too, lay Gravis and his crew. It had been hit a number of times and appeared to have been damaged.

  ‘No survivors, Major,’ he heard the Captain say.

  ‘So it would seem, so it would seem,’ repeated the Major. ‘I think that perhaps our rescuers might have something to do with that.’

  Arthur watched Luca and Sava, and for a moment wondered if they could really be believed. If Luca couldn’t be trusted, he thought to himself, it seemed strange that she should try to rescue them. She had looked shocked by what Char had done. It would have been easier for her just to go along with him and forget about them, but she hadn’t.

  Once on board, Luca gave them back their rifles and they spread out to do a search of the ship. Once confident that none of Gravis’s men were lurking anywhere, the group gathered on the bridge, where the Major asked Yan to see if he could make her fly. He examined the jet-black control panels carefully, but they were nothing like he had ever experienced. Luca and Sava were also unable to make them respond.

  ‘I don’t know what to tell you,’ he said at last. ‘It’s a lot more complicated than simply recalibrating a cloaking shield or a plasma rifle.’

  Luca, who, in the meantime, had gone to take watch, reappeared suddenly at the door to the bridge.

  ‘Solarian ship closing on the far side of the island. When they discover that Char is not there to deliver you all, it is likely they will do a circuit of the island. We must not delay any longer.’

  ‘Well, unless you can figure out how to fly this thing, we won’t be getting very far,’ said the Major.

  Luca turned towards Arthur.

  ‘Why have you not asked the Keeper?’

  Arthur felt his face flush at the way Luca sounded so sure he could do it. He had no idea how to fly anything; the best he’d ever managed was a paper plane, and that didn’t get far.

  ‘Keeper, can you do it?’ She asked.

  Shaking his head, he stepped forward and stood before the long, flat, reflective surfaces of the control panels. He felt foolish. He knew everyone was expecting him to do something and he felt desperate not to let them down.

  ‘Keeper!’ said Luca, coming over and standing next to him. ‘You must do something. The Solarian ship is moving in our direction!’

  Then, for some unknown reason, the cat jumped up on to one of the panels and they both suddenly flickered into life.

  ‘Cat! Be careful – what are you doing?’ cried Arthur, watching the screen light up in front of him.

  ‘Showing you how to turn this thing on, obviously!’

  The panels had lit up with a myriad of strange symbols and coloured indicators, some flashing, others forming schematics and diagrams.

  ‘So, go on then,’ prompted the cat. ’I don’t fancy being on the menu this evening!’

  ‘Go on then what?’ Arthur whispered, so that the others couldn’t hear them.

  ‘Touch something.’

  ‘Touch what?’ But, without waiting for the cat to answer, Arthur found his hand sliding its way over one of the diagrams. As he did so, the ship’s engines roared into life and the vessel lifted up out of the water. Several seconds later, a loud warning sound filled the bridge.

  ‘It’s the Solarians!’ shouted Sava. ‘They’re locking their plasma cannons on to us!’

  Luca ran out of the bridge onto the upper deck. Seating herself at the controls of their plasma cannon on the front of the ship, she prepared to return fire. Arthur stared desperately at the control panel.

  ‘Don’t think, don’t think,’ he muttered to himself. ‘Things work much better when you don’t think!’ He placed his hand over a circular diagram and slid his fingertip around the perimeter, causing the ship to turn accordingly.

  ‘There – you’ve got it! Now let’s get out of here, lad!’ shouted the Major as a plasma shot hit the back of the ship, making it shudder. Arthur slid one hand forward along the glass whilst using the other to turn the ship, which jolted sideways and forwards several times until he got the feel of how sensitive the controls were.

  ‘This is the Andarran symbol for shields,’ called out Sky over the noise of the alarm.

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Because I was paying attention!’ She shouted, pressing the symbol. A diagram of the ship appeared on the screen, surrounded by a transparent blue overlay.

  ‘Shields on!’

  ‘Well done!’ called out the Major, who was examining the panel with Sky. ‘Now, if we can just get that rocket launcher to work, we might stand a chance!’

  ‘Cat, can you help?’ asked Arthur, not noticing that the cat had slipped back into his pack once the Solarians had started shooting. ‘Cat?’ He repeated, twisting round trying to find him, causing the ship to turn sharply. Everyone in the bridge went flying.

  ‘Steady, lad!’

  ‘Sorry!’ replied Arthur, forgetting about the cat and concentrating on steering the ship as it continued to accelerate.

  ‘Plasma cannon lock on!’ shouted Sava, moments before another Solarian plasma round hit the ship’s shielding. ‘Our shields are depleting fast! We will only be able to take a few more hits.’

  ‘I can try to zig-zag the ship,’ suggested Arthur.

  ‘It won’t help – they are using guided plasma shells. The best we can try is to outrun them!’

  Arthur increased the speed even more, causing the ship to start vibrating heavily. For a short time, it looked as though they might do it: the Solarians’ ship fell back behind them. But still their plasma shells remained within range.

  ‘It’s not working! Our shields are about to fail, and at this speed the next shell will rip us apart!’

  ‘Wait – look there!’ cried Arthur, spotting a big area of the ice roof, pouring like a mammoth waterfall into the sea below. ‘Maybe we can lose them in that?’

  ‘Are you mad?’ cried Margot, who was holding on to a railing on the side of the cabin.

  ‘Yes! But we can only take one more direct hit, and we can’t outrun them. Maybe they won’t follow us through it!’

  ‘And for good reason!’ shouted Margot anxiously as Arthur banked the ship and steered straight for the collapsing roof at full speed.

  ‘Arthur, maybe we should slow down?’ She called out as a Solarian plasma shell narrowly missed them.

  ‘Brace yourselves!’ shouted Captain Schmidt as Luca, seeing what was about to happen, ran onto the bridge and grabbed a railing.

  ‘Arthur!’ cried Margot.

  The force of the speeding ship colliding with the cascade of falling ice and water forced the ship several metres under the surface of the sea, and sent everyone hurtling across the bridge. As they scrambled to their feet, Sky was the first to run to the control panel.

  ‘Our shields have failed!’ She shouted, grabbing the panel as the ship lurched heavily from side to side.

  Warning sounds began to ring out around the bridge.

  ‘Engines are overheating, Keeper!’ called out Luca. Arthur, who had just staggered back to his control panel, eased off the power, reducing the engines to half speed. Through the window, nothing was visible under the torrent. A loud bang, followed by the ship tilting heavily, caused everyone to lose their balance again.

  ‘It’s the ice falling from the roof,’ said Sava, picking herself up before another loud bang and tilt sent her falling to the floor again.

  Arthur, who had also been thrown, watched as the rucksack containing the cat slid past him. It was about to slide right out the door when he caught the straps, pulling it back towards him.

  ‘Are you okay, Cat?’ He
shouted.

  ‘Wonderful! I always wanted to drown at sea!’ meowed the cat loudly.

  ‘No one is going to die at sea, Cat!’ He cried, wondering just how true that statement was going to turn out to be, the moment after he’d said it.

  Again the ship shuddered and pitched as it was hit again and again. Arthur crawled as quickly as he could to the control panel. Balancing, he pulled himself up. It was hard to stay upright for long whilst they were taking such a beating. Finding that the engine had cut out, he slid his fingers over the glassy panel and felt the engines whir into life again. Sky and Sava were trying to work out how to get the ship’s shields back online as they fought their way through the barrage.

  Although the collapsing roof covered many dozens of square kilometres, it turned out it was still stable in the middle. This meant that once they had broken through to the other side of the plunging wall of water and ice, they were able to stop and assess the damage, and recharge the ship’s shields. It was like being in the eye of a storm, and it gave them a chance to continue hiding from the Solarians. The longer they could stay hidden inside, the more likely their pursuers would give up and assume they had perished.

  There was also the factor of the fading light to consider. It was beginning to get dark, and, as no one was very familiar with the Strelkan, it was deemed unwise to try and pass through the deluge again in the dark.

  7

  A Close Shave

  Arthur stood on deck, gazing at the spectacle surrounding them, the ship bobbing peacefully in the water. On every side, powerful torrents of ice and water were plunging into the sea below, creating huge clouds of spray.

  ‘It’s so pretty,’ said Sky. ‘And scary!’

  Arthur hadn’t heard her come up behind him.

  ‘Yes, very! I just hope that this part of the roof holds out long enough for us to get out of here tomorrow. It’s already creeping this way.’

  ‘I think we’re all hoping that… By the way, I’m sorry that I’ve been giving you a hard time about Luca.’