‘Of course! Of course!’ He nodded. ‘I know that, of course. It was just a little joke… you understand,’ he said, and without waiting or saying another word, he jumped off the control panel and disappeared back out of the door to the bridge.
Insuro introduced the other members of his party, which consisted of Sezan, Vello his Special Council, Roca and Sochi. Just as he finished his introductions, Luca reappeared, out of breath.
‘Mr President,’ she gasped, ‘your ship will be here in three sontars. But we must make haste once it arrives. I fear that our presence here has not gone unnoticed. One of the Viznar was shadowing me as I sought to acquire a new vessel. Had it not been for your signal, I would not have known to throw him off my scent. Still, the Viznar do not give up their pursuits lightly, and although I led him on a merry dance, it does not mean that he lurks not still in the shadows.’
‘Viznar?’ Arthur mouthed silently to Sky, who shrugged her shoulders.
‘Then gather what things you wish to take with you and let us go. No good will come of staying longer.’
As they hurried to collect what things they had, Arthur heard another vessel draw up alongside them in the darkness. Without delay, they all boarded the smaller boat, which, as soon as the last of them were aboard, turned, rose up out of the water and headed slowly out of the harbour, maintaining an even distance between them and the ship in front of them, which was also leaving the port.
Arthur watched the lively harbour and its bright lights as they faded from view until finally dissolving into the night. Insuro left the group and went to another cabin with his companions, leaving only Vello to stay with them. For the most part he sat with his eyes closed.
‘I think he’s meditating,’ whispered Sky, who had become intrigued by what he was doing.
Vello was one of the Ibeks, the ‘red aliens’ as they had called them when they had first seen them on Tresk. Arthur remembered Insuro telling him how they were known for their military abilities. He wondered if his presence here meant that Tresk was getting ready to get involved with its army on Andarra. It seemed strange, though, if that were the case. Why now? It had been little more than six months ago that Insuro had told him straight, that after one hundred years of bloody conflict, he was not prepared to send more fighters to die in order to save Arthur’s father and crew.
Arthur joined Sky in observing what Vello was doing. His face looked calm and his hair was drawn back in a knot behind his head, making him look like a samurai. Arthur couldn’t help but wonder to himself how old Vello was and whether he had a family back on Tresk.
‘I am fifty-four of your Earth years,’ came a reply. Arthur, who had momentarily glanced at Luca, looked back at Vello and nodded at him, before frowning as he realised that he had not actually asked him anything. Moreover, Vello was still sitting there calmly with his eyes closed.
‘And in answer to your second question, I have three boys of a similar age to yourself,’ continued the voice. It sounded like Vello’s, his lips hadn’t moved so much as a flicker.
‘Why are you staring at him like that?’ asked Sky, noticing Arthur leaning forward towards Vello and frowning as though inspecting something.
‘Staring like what? I’m trying to understand how he’s talking without speaking!’
‘Talking without speaking? Arthur, he hasn’t said a word the whole time we’ve been here. Are you sure you’re feeling all right?’
Not wanting to appear foolish, and now doubting his own sanity, Arthur made a noise as if to clear his throat. He too closed his eyes, principally in order to avoid having to make eye contact with Sky and explain why he was sounding mad.
‘I thought for a moment that you were talking to me,’ he said to himself, imagining that he was somehow able to talk to Vello.
‘I am talking to you, Keeper,’ came the reply.
At once Arthur opened his eyes, expecting to see Vello talking normally, but again all he saw was the Treskan sitting silently. He glanced at Sky, who was still eyeing him as if he might be cracking up.
Confused, Arthur closed his eyes again. He didn’t want to give her a chance to say anything.
‘Don’t think!’ He told himself. ‘At least don’t think about the red alien.’
‘Red alien, you say? To be honest, I am wondering if it is not perhaps you, Keeper, and your people who are the aliens in this system.’ Arthur could hear the sound of amusement in his voice.
‘Oh – damn – sorry!’ Arthur cringed and tried even harder not to think. The problem was, though, that the more he tried not to think, the more he actually thought, and even worse than that were the things he thought about! Arthur carried on mentally wrestling with himself until, out of nowhere, he realised that if he relaxed and tried to create a doorway between his thoughts and Vello, then Vello would only hear those thoughts that he wanted him to hear.
‘Why is it that I can hear you talking to me?’ thought Arthur, trying to construct an imaginary wall in his mind. ‘Are you talking to everyone here?’
‘No, Keeper, only you have the ability to hear my voice.’
‘Only me?’
‘I believe so. Insuro requested that you be tested to see if the Arnac had yet bestowed upon you this ability or not.’
‘Why couldn’t he just ask me?’
‘Because some things cannot be asked and must instead be confirmed.’
‘Oh,’ said Arthur. ‘I guess that makes sense.’
A short silence followed and Vello spoke again. ‘The time is coming when difficult questions and choices must be discussed. That the Arnac have seen fit to bestow this gift upon you means you are ready to give counsel when the time arrives.’
‘Give counsel? What time is arriving?’ He asked, not really following.
‘It is not my place, Keeper, to tell you that which I cannot. All will be revealed soon enough. For now we must look to the Northern Plateau.’
‘Really? You’re coming with us?’ asked Arthur, surprised and relieved.
‘Why else do you think we are here?’
‘I don’t know… I was hoping Insuro was going to say something. You know, like how you found us?’
Feeling Sky nudging him in his side, Arthur opened his eyes to discover that Vello was no longer sitting with his closed.
‘Wake up, sleepy,’ she joked.
Arthur frowned at her as Vello cast a look about the room and cleared his throat.
‘Friends,’ he said, ‘the Keeper has asked me to explain to you all how it was that we came to find you.’
‘Did you?’ asked Sky. ‘But you were asleep!’ This time it was she who was frowning.
‘Shh. Listen!’ whispered Arthur as Vello recounted how they had been able to track them as far as Getti.
‘When it became known to us that the Commander had refused you permission to return to the Nira valley, and that you had gone north to the Spice Sea, President Insuro despatched trackers to find you. You were tracked as far as Sa, where we learned of your acquaintance with the pirate Gravis. Even on Tresk, his name and deeds are not unknown. News of a deal between Gravis and Char alarmed the President, who left immediately for Andarra whilst trackers continued to follow you by sea as far as the island of Orca. By the time they got there, dragon lizards had devoured most of those who had fallen, but from what was left we still had hope that you were all unharmed. We then made with all haste to the Port of Getti, expecting that you would head there.’
‘We were pursued by Solarians and had to take shelter in a roof collapse,’ said Sky. ‘Where, incidentally, we were almost devoured by a Levanon!’
Vello nodded knowingly at her.
‘I am aware of the perils you have been through. You have done well to make it to Getti alive. The stars have favoured and conferred their blessing on your endeavours,’ said Vello.
His expression then cha
nged. He sought out Luca and Sava in the room and addressed them directly.
‘You have brought no shame upon yourselves and your families. You acted with honour. Char was a renegade and broke the code which binds all Andarran fighters. It is fitting that his bones should be consumed by dragon lizards, for there is no room in the halls of the Argon brigade for renegades and traitors.’
Luca and Sava both bowed low to Vello.
‘We made a commitment to take the Earth-dwellers to the Northern Plateau. With your permission, we will see this through. The Argon brigade keeps its promises,’ said Luca.
This time Vello bowed his head. ‘Then let it be so,’ he replied. ‘We will reach the northern shore in one darkness. From there we will make for the Valley of the Serena.’
10
The Valley of the Serena
11
Friend or Foe?
As Arthur sat lost in his thoughts about the summer cottage, he was oblivious to what was happening around him. Odd things were being said. Odd in themselves and very odd coming from those who were saying them.
‘I mean, we could just leave the kid and his mangy cat tied up to a couple of these tree things, take the Artefacts and trade them with the Solarians in exchange for safe passage back to Earth! I mean, why not? This is not our war. We can let bygones be bygones and, who knows, we could end up being great friends with them,’ said Captain Schmidt, as if suddenly deciding to say out loud all that he had been thinking.
‘Schmidt! Get a grip of yourself!’ said the Major, sounding shocked by what he’d just heard the Captain say. The Captain threw a stone into the darkness and looked the Major straight in the face.
‘Don’t you think I know about your little plan to do away with all of them? I know you were planning to take them for yourself!’
‘Now look here, Captain, I don’t know what’s got into you, but I suggest that you think very carefully about what you are mouthing off in front of everyone, and…’ The Major stopped mid-sentence and growled: ‘Or I am going to do away with your ugly mug as well!’
What was being said between Captain Schmidt and the Major would have been deeply shocking for those sitting nearby, but no one was paying attention. Margot was too busy trading insults with Yan, whilst Sky and Luca were threatening each other before deciding that Arthur was the cause of all of their problems, and if they were to remove him from their problems then they would no longer have any problems! Insuro and Vello had also been affected by the kind of madness that was sweeping through the group. Unlike the others, they sat still like statues, their faces not betraying the faintest hint of emotion. Whatever it was they were thinking or saying, they were doing it through the power of their minds.
The only one of the group who didn’t appear to be affected was the cat. At first he had tried to ignore what was going on and sleep through it. But hearing Sky telling Luca that she thought that it would be a lot of fun to kick the cat, and then not noticing when he’d bitten her hand, appeared to wake him up a little.
Not wanting to take the chance that she really was going to kick him, the cat moved away from her and crept in between Arthur and his backpack. Now he could not help but hear the things that were being said, which sounded far more worrying, in his opinion, than the usual odd things the humans liked to say to each other.
Still, he thought to himself, I’m sure Sky was just joking. He glanced at her again; she was busy gesticulating at Luca, and still not paying him any attention. And if they want to go mad, that’s their problem. He was about to close his eyes when another thought entered his head. What if that blue alien, the one that has everyone fooled about being a vegetarian – what if he went mad whilst I was asleep!? The cat opened his eyes even wider and sat upright. ‘Damn, I can’t see him,’ he said to himself and crept forward, peering round the side of the group to find where Sezan was sitting. No sooner had he located him than it seemed to the cat that Sezan swivelled round and smiled his big, toothy smile straight at him.
Fish! thought the cat. I have to do something!
‘Come on! Use your superior brain!’ He said out loud.
Yes, good plan, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll use my superior brain. He began to think hard about absolutely nothing, and after couple of minutes all he could feel were his eyes closing. Tired… he thought. A brain as good as mine cannot run on fumes alone, you know. Yes, it needs sleep to create great plans… they’ll be all right, they’re always talking about getting rid of each other and stealing the Arnac and being ‘all right jack’ and other things that never make sense. It’s probably this fog that’s making them all go loopy. It’s making me sleepy… it does feel good though… so warm. Why are they arguing when they could all be wrapping themselves up in a nice, warm, foggy blanket and having a little snooze… Of course, if I fall asleep, then that blue alien is going to eat me for sure. Yes… that’s okay. I bet I taste good. Mmm yummy me, yes… shame I’ll never know. What!? I’ll never know if I tasted good?
The cat’s eyes opened slightly.
‘Magpies!’ He meowed sleepily. Again he tried hard to think, but his mind was blank, and that warm, sleepy feeling was willing him to return. ‘Fo,’ he said, his eyes heavy with the simple desire to close. ‘Fo,’ he said again, feeling his head falling forwards onto the soft pillow of his warm, fluffy paws…
‘Fog!’ He yelled out and jumped up. ‘Fog! It’s the fog making everyone go doolally!’
But what can I do about it? he thought, as he listened to what everyone was saying whilst keeping a careful eye on Sezan. They’re all talking about Arthur, about him being the cause of everything. They’re going to take the Arnac and throw him into the fog or worse. Ufff… lucky they don’t think about me like that or that would really be a problem. Still, I can run faster than them all, so… so! That’s it! You genius, you! If I can get Arthur to run after me, then they’ll all get up and chase him, and nobody was mad before they sat down!
Arthur was still sitting quietly, oblivious to everything. He looked sad and tired. He reached out a hand to stroke the cat.
‘There was no one at the summer cottage, Cat. That makes me sad. Doesn’t it make you sad?’ He asked without looking at him.
‘Arthur, we need to go, to leave this place quickly. Come on, we should run!’ said the cat.
‘Leave? Leave here?… Why? It will be sad wherever we go, Cat. I’m not sure that I want to be sad somewhere else.’
The cat cursed and sank his teeth into the side of Arthur’s hand in exasperation.
‘Ow! Cat!’ said Arthur sadly. ‘What did you do that for?!’
When he showed no signs of moving, the cat bit him again, this time even harder.
‘Cat! Cut it out! It really hurts! If you do that again, we are going to fall out,’ said Arthur, rubbing his hand. ‘What’s got into you?’
All of this time, Arthur had not once shifted his gaze from the fog, and even though the cat had moved several times, Arthur was still stroking the air where the cat had been. ‘It would be sad to fall out, don’t you think?’ He said.
‘No! I don’t think so!’ yelled the cat, and this time he really sank his teeth into Arthur’s hand.
‘Arrghhh!’ Arthur cried and swung at the cat. Missing him, he leapt to his feet and started after him. The cat hissed, and, seeing that the others had all suddenly got up and were following, he began to draw them away.
It’s working, he thought, trying to navigate through the darkness, which was suddenly not so dark, whilst making sure not to get kicked or caught.
Light, what’s this light? A soft light had wrapped itself around each of them as soon as they had started moving quickly. The faster they went, the brighter it became. A light that shines for you the faster you move – why? How would you know to run in the darkness? He wondered. Was it to help you get out of the valley faster, or to help something else find you in the night?
<
br /> As the cat was trying to draw them away, he remembered Insuro saying it would take several days to walk to the other end of the valley.
Rat droppings! He thought. I am not running that far. No… we need to get above this fog!
The cat changed direction abruptly and began to climb. Soon he could feel his legs tiring, and several times Arthur got within a whisker of catching up to him.
‘Curse that box and curse this planet,’ he hissed breathlessly. ‘And curse this… oh! I’m out of the fog!’
The cat paused for a moment and cast a quick glance back to make sure that the others were still following. It had been hard to work out what was happening in the fog. He could only be sure that the others were behind them by the curses they were shouting and occasionally by glimpses of the mottled lights surrounding them. Arthur’s head was just appearing out of the murk.
Where am I? The cat wondered to himself. On one side was the valley they had just come out of, black and lifeless under the stars shining far above them. On the other side the cat spied rolling hills far below them. A valley ridge! The drop down to the rolling hills looked too steep; the only other way down was back into the fog. ‘Not good! Not good!’ The cat mumbled as he ran along a very narrow trail that followed the ridge top. The others had already clambered out of the fog and were chasing Arthur, who was relentless in his pursuit of the cat. It was then that the cat saw that the ridge appeared to drop sharply back into the fog. ‘Oh, fish! Fish! Fish! Really not good!’
The cat ran to the end of the ridge and looked over the edge. He couldn’t see below the fog and there was no way of knowing whether it was safe to jump down or not. He turned to face Arthur arching his back and flexing his claws as the fur on his body spiked. He began to make a terrible hissing sound as in his head he counted his doom.
Nine… eight… seven… claws ready… five… four… ready to jump… three… two… one…
‘Cat! What’s wrong with you? What are you doing up here in the middle of the night? And more importantly, how did I get up here?’ panted Arthur, falling to his knees and gasping for breath.
Arthur and the Andarran Rescue Page 12