RABAN (The Rabanian Book 2)

by Dan Haronian

  "Wh-Wh-What are…"

  "I must find someone to convey the message."

  A taxi stopped and she got inside. I got in after her.

  "Take us to the mineral exchange," she said.

  "The mineral exchange," said the driver his Desertian accent heavy.

  A short while later we stopped in front of the Mampas Mineral Stock Exchange. We walked towards the big glass doors, crossed the wide reception hall and walked into the main hall.

  May-Thor scanned the Hall. Two controllers were on stage at the far left side of the Hall and another controller was standing in the middle of the hall. A few dozen people were sitting in front of their terminals. Their coloring and facial shape hinted that they were Desertian but I knew it didn't prove they had anything to do with the rebels. One of the controllers pointed to one of the big screens. Seconds later she came down from the stage and walked along the rows of terminals toward us. We stepped forward.

  "His name is Nimar," said Su-Thor.

  The controller stopped. "Excuse me?"

  "In the first lesson he told you that within a week you would get used to the tight uniform," continued May-Thor nodding her head at the black uniform the girl was wearing.

  "Who are you?"

  "But you never do," said Su-Thor ignoring the question.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "I have a message to forward. Can you help me?"

  The controller looked back as if she was looking for help from her friend on the stage. She turned back to us. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, a forced smile on her face. "You must have confused me with someone else," she added and walked away.

  "Either she's not one of us or she is afraid to talk," said May-Thor.

  "What about the o-o-others?"

  The controller went back up onto the stage and spoke quietly to her friend who started to scan the hall.

  "They are together," said May-Thor looking at the three controllers who’d suddenly become more active. "Something’s not right," she said and walked back towards the reception hall.

  "Wait," I called as she walked toward the exit. She was out into the street before I could catch her and I followed, hoping to calm her down. Suddenly a vehicle stopped right in front of us. A sliding door opened and armed men jumped out. They surrounded us. Passing people were rudely shoved out of the way.

  "There," shouted one of the men pointing towards the vehicle. We looked at each other in alarm, but then I was grabbed and pushed into the vehicle. Another man approached May-Thor. She raised her hands in submission and walked quickly towards the vehicle.

  The driver swerved through the streets, breaking every possible traffic law as he raced to our unknown destination. I expected the police to stop us at any moment, but no patrol cars seemed to be in the area. The vehicle left the city, and after a short drive along the belt road he turned off into the desert. Finally he stopped next to a hovercraft.

  "Out," ordered one of the men.

  We got out. Three people walked over to us, pushed us against the vehicle, and tied our hands behind our back with plastic zip ties.

  One of them slapped me and my head rocked to the side. My hat flew off. "You won't need that anymore," he said.

  They held our arms and dragged us toward the hovercraft. They sat us in the middle row and one of the men fastened our seatbelts. He sat down between us and three additional men sat behind us. The pilot sat alone in the front seat. It looked like they’d learned their lesson. I leaned forward a bit to look at May-Thor and the man in the middle slammed his elbow into my face.

  "We have them," the pilot said into his microphone.

  "Very good. Take them to base 200," we heard Gu-Dos say.

  "Gu-Dos," yelled May-Thor.

  "Shut up," said the man sitting between us.

  "They have so-so-something that can ki-ki-kill us all," I said.

  The man turned and punched me in the face.

  "What sort of thing?" we heard Gu-Dos voice from the speaker.

  "Some chemical, a poison that was designed to kill us all," continued May-Thor.

  The hovercraft fell silent. May-Thor looked at the man next to her. "We must destroy it before they use it."

  Gu-Dos appeared on the screen above the pilot. "How do you know this?"

  "We j-j-just know," I said my head still spinning from the punch. My nose was bleeding and I tried to wipe away the blood that was running down my chin with my shoulder.

  "There are rumors…," said Gu-Dos and stopped. "…on the network," he continued.

  I knew there weren’t. I’d just checked. I felt confused.

  "It's real," said May-Thor. "This chemical has already been produced in a lab in the chemical center. We must get to it before anyone can use it."

  Gu-Dos image froze, as an explosion from below rocked the hovercraft. A massive shockwave hit us and the front window exploded in a shower of glass. The pilot tried to recover. He was just able to level out the hovercraft when its belly touched the dunes. A flash of light passed in front of us and a huge wave of sand rose up in front of us like a wall. The shock of the collision rattled the hovercraft. Sand poured in and buried us as the hovercraft gradually skidded to a stop. The smell of smoke and dust filled the air.

  A strange quiet set in. It was broken by coughing and moaning. Around me safety belts were clicking open. The hovercraft door opened and men started to make their way outside. They didn't bother to release us. I reached for the button of my own harness and pressed as hard as my shaking hands could manage. Finally the seatbelt released. I slid towards May-Thor and started to dig into the sand to find the button on her harness.

  "Y-Y-You o-o-okay?" I asked but she didn't answer.

  I found the button and released her. "Come on," I called and tried to rise. My legs were buried in the loose sand. After a few attempts I was able to release myself. I rushed to the entrance. I found a sharp corner and rubbed the plastic zip-tie up and down until it parted. May-Thor came over and she quickly pressed the zip-tie binding her hands against the same corner and repeated the process.

  "Let go," she said and moved her hands up and down until the plastic zip detached.

  "Are you okay?" I asked.

  "No," she said trembling.

  There were whistles and flashes from the front of the hovercraft. I pushed her to the floor. The space around us was filled with sand almost up to the level of the seats level. There was no place to hide. The roar of a hovercraft engine shook the air around us. A bright light turned the dark desert to day. The beam lanced down through the blowing sand stirred up by the hovering ship above us.

  "It's a war hovercraft," she said her voice still trembling.

  Flashes of light struck the shuttle. I crawled into the back of the hovercraft and released the emergency handle that dropped the rear window onto the ground outside. May-Thor waited until the firing stopped before crawling over to me. We both tumbled onto the sand. We looked at each other for a moment. I was sure she was remembering the first time we‘d crash-landed in the desert.

  I peered around the edge of the hovercraft at the war hovercraft that had landed not far away. The backdoor of the hovercraft opened and a few soldiers hurried out in a defensive formation. They stopped next to the hovercraft their weapons raised. May-Thor pointed to a long shadow to our right.

  "There!" she called.

  I laid my hand on her back and brought my face close to her ear. "It w-w-wasn't Naan, it w-w-was me. Do-do-don't do so-so-something stupid"

  She gave me a quick look and then a massive volley from the soldiers forced us to take cover. She tried to twist around and look at me, but I didn't let her. Before she could react I pushed her forward. She had no choice but to run towards the hill.

  His words hung in her mind, their pain intensifying as the seconds passed. When the firing came again she fell onto the sand behind the small hill. She turned back to look for him, but he was no longer there. For a few seconds she only lay there
thinking about what he’d said. Had she heard him right? What had he meant? "It wasn't Naan, it was me." What wasn’t Naan? All of the events of the last few days flashed through her mind. His words still meant nothing. Could he have been talking about the material produced in the lab? A shiver went through her body when this thought crossed her mind.

  More shooting distracted her from her thoughts. She heard the buzzing of Flyeyes and terror sharpened her senses in an instant. During the next break in the shooting she crawled farther away. Another wild volley sent lines of flashing lights just over her head and forced her to bury her face in the sand. She slowly raised her head to find the two hovercrafts, one in front of the other, like predator and prey. Deadly beams flashed out in all directions.

  Small, dark shadows moved quickly away from the war hovercraft. She assumed they were Flyeyes. One of the flashes of light struck a shadow and confirmed her suspicion. The Flyeye exploded. Nothing remained but a quickly decaying glow.

  She searched the dunes for him. She needed him to explain what he’d meant. Suddenly she saw a shadow off to the right. She recognized his silhouette and his motion. She raised her head and called out to him. Another volley pinned her down again. She raised her head when the firing stopped but he was gone. Her heart began to pound. Was he down? Her instincts told her to back away into the darkness of the desert and find help, but she didn't want to leave him behind. She needed to know why he’d lied to her. There had to be a logical explanation for his damn stuttered words. Suddenly she saw him again. He was running towards the back of the war hovercraft.

  "Raban," she shouted.

  Three soldiers turned and started to run towards the hovercraft. Shots rang out and one of them fell. The hovercraft’s engine started to scream as it lifted from the ground and jittered from side to side. The soldiers backed away a bit. When the hovercraft stabilized one of them jumped and managed to get hold of the frame of the backdoor. He reached out with his other hand to improve his grip, but the hovercraft wiggled wildly and he fell. The backdoor started to close and the hovercraft gradually rose, still wobbling a bit from side to side. Its flight grew more and more unstable until it looked as if it were about to crash. One of the soldiers raised his rifle and opened fire. The hovercraft lost control and sank down to the sand. Then, as if had woken from its drunkenness it stabilized, soared back into the desert sky and disappeared.

  Quiet darkness prevailed. May-Thor was utterly confused. Another volley of shots made her jump. Someone from off to her left returned fire. Had it been him? Had he really taken over the hovercraft? Her lips trembled and she felt a sudden intense pain in her chin. She reached gingerly touched it with her hand and felt wetness around the wound. The shooting started again but she no longer cared who was winning. She crawled quietly away from the battle. When she thought she’d gone far enough she stood up and started to run.

  I was a good pilot but I’d never been anything other than a captive in a war hovercraft. It felt like I was in one of my mother’s stories about the hovercraft she’d flown on her home planet. She’d loved to tell me about all of the improvements she’d made to turn them into monsters disguised as innocent passenger vehicles. I was seized with a deep longing to have her beside me. I had no doubt that despite her age she would know exactly what to do with all the information that scrolling across the screen in front of me. I shook off my confusion and reminded myself that it was still only a hovercraft. I pulled on the pressure suit as I lifted off from the ground. I was still struggling with the unfamiliar controls and was thrown against the restraints again and again as the ship wobbled out of control. Finally I focused again on the information on the screen and began to recognize familiar readings from all of the hours I’d spent aboard civilian hovercrafts. Suddenly everything clicked. I lifted off again and quickly left Mampas’ atmosphere.

  All the steps of my plan had materialized in my mind as soon as I saw the hovercraft. I knew it was crazy and the chances of success were slim, but my chances of surviving in the desert weren’t very good either. I knew that if I separated from May-Thor I would be able to draw the soldiers’ attention. If I failed she would still be free to act.

  The screen in front of me listed all of the flight data for the hovercraft. To my left another screen showed the positions of all of the other aircraft in Mampas’ airspace. A few dozen blips were on the screen. The data tags identified most of them as commercial interplanetary hovercrafts following their routine routes into and out of the different airports across the planet. I broke into the network, and surfed into Mampas Airport Authority system. I scanned through the details of the rest until I found the landing craft that had departed from shuttle 791959. The delegation from Seragon would be aboard. Its data tag designated it as hovercraft 23. I changed course to intercept it.

  The communication console crackled and a voice filled the cockpit. "Hovercraft 2020, this is flight control. Why have you changed course?” I didn’t respond. “Hovercraft 2020 please respond." repeated the controller a few moments later.

  I ignored the call. "2020 you are requested to land immediately at landing site 609/4. Please acknowledge."

  I ignored this call as well. I waited. Soon seven new indicators appeared on the screen to my left. They were all war hovercrafts flying in attack formation. One took the lead followed by two rows of three-ships.

  A light blinked on from the screen in front of me. The autopilot had engaged. A warning message scrolled across the bottom of the screen as well. An energy pulse from the lead ship had targeted my craft. I tried to maneuver but the hovercraft ignored my commands. Just before the pulse turned my hovercraft to molten slag, it shot upwards on its own so fast that I felt the blood drain from my head. The suit’s pressure increased to compensate. It was still a near thing. I saw spots before my eyes and realized that I was about to pass out. Abruptly the hovercraft pulled out of the maneuver and my vision cleared. The autopilot light blinked out and I put my hands back on the controls.

  I was breathing heavily and my hands were shaking. I resumed my course to intercept the landing craft and approached it from behind. When the data tag for my target neared the one for my own ship on the display I broke into the flight control system of the airport. Warnings blared from the console and a collision-warning message flashed to life on the screen. It blinked more and more rapidly as the two indicators approached each other. Below the warning a box displayed the remaining distance between the two hovercrafts. Just as the distance counter reached single digits, and the symbols on the screen began to overlap, I scrambled the information in the system and switched the two indicators.

  I banked hard and the indicator for ship 23 moved steadily away from that of ship 2020. The latter symbol continued its descent toward the surface of Mampas. The war hovercrafts that had been following me accelerated a bit and followed it down. They ignored me completely and I knew that my trap had worked.

  The doomed hovercraft found itself suddenly surrounded by war hovercrafts. They formed an almost perfect geometrical sphere around it. When they opened fire their energy pulses looked like bright, uniform stripes chasing the landing craft almost simultaneously from all directions.

  From a safe distance I watched as the remains of the landing craft were scattered in all directions. The data tags for ship 2020 disappeared from the screen. The war hovercrafts changed course to return to base. I followed them slowly but soon one of them slowed down. It left the formation and hailed me over the communication system.

  "Hovercraft 23 is everything okay?

  "Everything is fine," I answered quickly doing my best not to stutter.

  "Very good hovercraft 23. Please land at landing site 657/68. Acknowledge."

  "I ac-ac-acknowledge."

  "You are breaking up hovercraft 23? Do you need assistance?"

  I took a deep breath. "No, everything is fine," I said.

  The war hovercraft turned away and returned to the formation. I let out a relieved breath. I had one more task
to complete, and I knew the story of these war hovercrafts wasn’t over yet. When the surface of Mampas was close, I shifted from the course to the airport and accelerated. I was coming in over the desert with the city of Mampas just beyond the vast yellow expanse. The war hovercrafts had noticed my strange maneuvers. One ship broke from the formation and in seconds it was behind me. At that range there was no mistaking my hovercraft for a passenger vehicle. I knew my game was at an end when it fired three energy pulses at me in quick succession. Again the autopilot engaged and easily evaded them. I regained control for a few seconds then two additional pulses flashed toward me and the autopilot again took over to avoid them.

  As I neared the city the autopilot winked out. I moved in close to the buildings thinking I would be safe if I stayed close to them. The belt road was now to off to my left.

  "Chemical Labs of Mampas," I said. A dot started to blink on the display in front of me. A data tag indicated that it was my target. Coordinates and a range to the target appeared next to the blinking dot.

  Three new war hovercrafts appeared on the screen to my left. They gradually separated from each other as they closed in on me. When the target was in range I fired twin energy pulses into the heart of the factory. At the same instant three energy pulses lanced toward me from the other hovercrafts. My hovercraft dodged wildly towards the desert trying to avoid them. Three additional energy pulses followed and once again the autopilot took over. One of the shots hit the ground near me throwing up a massive wave of sand. My craft sputtered and its nose rose up then dropped back down, trying to avoid another set of energy pulses. Suddenly a transparent shell appeared around me. I heard the dull crack of a small explosion nearby and suddenly I was outside the hovercraft. Two wings opened from the back of the pressure suit and small engines engaged slowing my descent. As I glided to the ground I saw the hovercraft smash into the sand. A mushroom shaped cloud of smoke rose into the sky from the point of impact.