by C. W Tickner
‘Sounds like the energy company is holding back by not seeking other sources of power,’ Harl said.
‘It is stagnant,’ Vorock agreed, ‘they have an operation that runs so smooth it is not worth changing. It would be good for us to speak to the Compassionate leaders. They are constantly working to find new sources of energy.’
‘I would like that,’ Harl said. ‘Perhaps we can work together to build a new source. Kane?’
‘Fascinating,’ Kane said, not paying attention to the conversation but focusing on the controls as his fingers glided across numbers and graphs.
‘The solar power you had at Delta…’ Harl let the question hang.
‘Wouldn’t work,’ Tess said. ‘By my calculations you would need a huge amount to fill one of those charges.’
‘Even on a vast scale,’ Kane said, finishing the comment, ‘they’d take up too much space.’
‘Whoa!’ Troy said, as they all lifted from the metal flooring and weightlessness took them, before the ship counteracted the change.
‘Really don’t like that feeling,’ Troy said, stamping his feet on the gridded floor as if to anchor them more.
‘Up ahead,’ Kane warned, peering over the console and out the curving window.
‘It’s big,’ Damen said.
Orbital rested ahead in the dark of space but it was overshadowed by a new ship resting above it. Its low triangular profile loomed larger as they levelled with both spacecraft. It was the equal of Orbital in size but that was where the similarities ended. Where orbital was long, square and bulky, the Aylen ship was compact, triangular and streamlined in to a single solid construction coated in angular plating with a dark metal sheen. It hovered above the human ship, connected by three giant struts that clamped onto Orbital’s upper hull where the communication dish had once been, locking both craft together.
A section of plating midway along the Aylen craft slid back and they watched in fascination as a speck of silver flittered out towards them.
‘Some sort of small craft,’ Kane said, his hands dashing over the screen in front of him. An outlined image appeared on the panel. It was a long hexagonal cylinder with a bell housing on its rear pushing a conical point towards them.
It expanded in the window as it hurtled towards the cockpit.
‘Unless it can stop instantly,’ Kane said, looking at his monitor and the numbers ticking across it, ‘it’s going to hit us head on. Harl gripped the back of Kane’s seat and braced himself.
A moment before it hit the window, jets of smoke pumped from the front. It slowed as the cone tip split open and six tentacle like metal arms flexed out towards the glass. It thudded into the screen and Harl flinched back expecting the window to crack but the arms absorbed the impact. A small nodule at the center of the snake-like arms flipped open and a thin red line spread across the top of the window, beaming inside.
Harl was thrust aside as Dana barged passed, whipped her cloak off and held it up against the inside of the glass, blocking the line from penetrating the room. They watched it scroll down the window, a faint line just visible through the cloak. Dana clenched her eyes shut and her arm muscles tensed as though expecting pain. When it reached the base, the line collapsed inwards to a single point then disappeared. There was a faint popping vibration and Dana eased the tattered black cloth aside, revealing the rear of the drone returning to the main ship again.
‘Ingenious, Dana,’ Tess said. ‘You may have just saved us from their knowledge.’
Dana sank into a spare seat and put her feet up on the console in front and grinned at them.
‘Take us in to Orbital, Kane,’ Harl said, as the scientist stared daggers at Dana’s dirty boots, ‘my family are waiting for me.’
‘To be honest,’ Kane said, his pale skin growing red, ‘Vorock and the autopilot have been doing most of the work, I’ve just been checking on things from here. I had hoped to pilot her some more.’
‘It’s like your child has grown up,’ Damen said, ‘and left home.’
‘You would know all about that,’ Kane said ‘having never grown up yourself.’
Damen frowned and Harl wondered if not having a child was a sore point for the warrior.
‘Not now, you two,’ he said. ‘We need to get on board Orbital and get our families and friends away from that thing.’
‘How do you plan to do it? Troy asked.
Harl had thought it would be easier when they were down on the ground but looking at the three huge struts connecting the ships he doubted their ability to separate them.
‘Let’s get on board first,’ he said, ‘I’m sure there’s something on Orbital we can use to our advantage.’
No more cylindrical drones came from the Aylen ship and Vorock assured them that they’d probably not been detected as anything other than circling debris.
The presence of the ship above them felt like a physical weight as they glided in under its nose, reaching midway along Orbital’s side where the docking doors were located.
They opened automatically as they lined up and Kane was able to switch to manual, taking over the controls with a broad grin unconsciously plastered across his pinched face.
Harl felt the same, but his thoughts were solely on seeing Sonora and little Elo.
Damen led them through the tunnels into the side airlock, his rifle and sword clattered against the walls of the small space as they piled in and the doors shut behind.
Troy grabbed Dana’s shoulder, stopping her from stumbling as the ship juddered in to docking position, making them all stagger. Troy whipped his hand away as a hissing sound filled the room and the pressure began to equalise. Harl heard the click of the connecting tunnels and the door slid up. Instead of the crowd Harl expected, there was no one to welcome them except the broken body of a ship’s guard crumpled on the floor. His chest was melted open, revealing charred organs inside as the foetid stench of death washed over the group.
Chapter 30
Week two. The giant alien has visited the drop ship every day since it discovered us. Some people have been leaving it bags of grain and other things as if it might appease it. As mad as I thought they were it seems the giant has taken them.
A second body lay beside the double doors which were the only exit from the long room. It was a very different scene from the first time they’d arrived. Desolate, with only dead bodies for company.
A bang punctuated the quiet, shaking them all to the present. Dana hunched over, knife in hand, looking around for the source as Damen swept his rifle down the long room. A second bang came from behind the double doors, rattling the steel. Damen pointed the rifle at the exit. A pair of metal bars were wedged against the door, sealing them off from the rest of the ship.
A third clank shuddered the hinges. Troy stepped forward and kicked the bars away as they all formed a semi circle ready for anything on the other side. Damen nodded at Troy to open the door and as he pulled them apart he ducked ready for shots overhead and scurried to the side.
A bright light at head height blinded Harl, dazzling the six of them.
‘No need to be shooting me,’ a voice said. ‘But yer very welcome aboard.’
‘Screw!’ Tess said and jumped forward to hug the big engineer as he switched the helmet light off. He hissed a sharp intake of breath and she stepped back.
‘You’re hurt?’ she said, pressing an emerald painted finger between the tools strapped across his chest. Each was tied on with a loop sewn into the thick garment. Her fingers came away slick with red.
‘It’s nothing,’ he said. But curse that Turpin. Took his cowardly friends and jumped ship, locking the door behind after killing near two dozen guards. We fought hard to stop him but he’d hoarded the best weapons for his minions. If I see that scum bag again I’m gunna get a wrench and take his balls and…’
‘No need,’ Harl said, ‘we met him and his cronies below. Let’s just say he won’t like his new home.’
‘He’s alive?’
‘As long as I don’t see his face again-. Argh,’ Screw said, doubling over and clutching his stomach.
‘Sit him down,’ Tess said to Damen and together they eased the big man down in the tunnel and peeled off his heavy jacket. A trickle of blood had seeped a maroon line down his chest. The source of the blood was a dark bruised puncture wound.
‘Ricochet,’ he said, wincing as Tess peeled the jacket off.
‘I need to stitch this.’ She said, opening her ragged pack and drawing out a rolled up medical kit. She unfurled the patched pouches revealing a host of implements, most of which Harl could only guess the use for.
Plucking out a needle and thread she set to work first cleaning the gash then the painful process of the sewing began. Screw didn’t let out a sound, just gritted his teeth and endured the hook as it pierced the tender flesh.
‘Where is everyone?’ Harl asked, hoping to take the man’s mind off the procedure.
‘Survival deck,’ Screw said through clenched teeth. ‘Have been there ever since the second ship attached itself to us.’
Tess finished up, re-rolling the bundle tight again in her pack and had Damen and Troy lift the engineer to his feet.
‘That should hold it,’ she said, ‘but don’t go being all macho and tearing it open again.’
‘I wouldn’t dare,’ he said offering her a cheeky grin. ‘Come on, I’ll take you to the survival deck.’
The signs of battle littered the corridors as they wound left and right, pushing deeper into the ship. Even if the bodies of Turpin’s hoarders and the guards hadn’t lain in each tunnel, the broken barricades and fresh scorch marks told the brutal tale of how intense the fighting had been.
Red warning lights pulsed along the bottom of the walls through each section and they found themselves passing men and women moving cargo about the ship ready for a protracted siege as they waited on the giant drone ship to make its move.
‘This is where I leave you,’ Screw said when they reached a solid steel door with a valve wheel in the centre.
‘Your still hurt, Tess said, ‘do you have to go so soon?’
‘Aye lass.’ he said, ‘I got some business that needs attending.’
Harl glimpsed tears in the man’s eyes before he turned back the way they’d come, taking a different tunnel offshoot and disappeared from view.
The final door to the main communal area was sealed shut and in eagerness Harl sped up to be at the front when they got to it. He spun the wheel in the centre of the door, tugging the heavy steel aside as it hissed with the change in air pressure.
As if she had sensed his coming, Sonora was standing in front of him, baby Elo in her arms, beaming at him. An intense feeling of relief flooded him and blurred his vision. It took a moment to realise it was tears.
‘Harl,’ Sonora said, stepping into him and holding Elo up, her smiling face examining in his own as Harl took her in his arms. Her blue eyes fixed on his as if he was from a half remembered dream. Sonora stepped back, letting the others pass.
Troy stopped and peeked over Harl’s shoulder.
‘She’s beautiful,’ he said.
Dana stopped to glance at the baby before Elo burst out crying as Troy cooed at her.
Dana laughed with Sonora and Harl at Troy’s shocked look.
‘She thinks your pretty,’ Dana said, walking off into the main communal area where Marlin was making a speech.
Harl, Troy and Sonora looked at each other, surprised.
‘Did she just make a joke? Sonora asked. ‘What happened down there?’
Harl laughed, happy to be a complete group once more.
‘Let’s listen to Marlin first,’ Harl said spotting Orbital’s leader in the middle of a gathered crowd, ‘then I will tell you everything. I’m just glad you’re safe.’ There was worry in her face and he wanted to ease her concern but Marlin’s voice drowned out the thoughts as they stepped closer to the crowd. Marlin was standing on a crate, flanked by two young guards. Both his arms were raised up, his fists clenched.
’-Will deal with this threat directly,’ he said and Harl noted a change in posture and voice from the man who’d asked him for leadership advice. He sounded determined, powerful and the voice reminded Harl of the Eldermen who ruled over his childhood tank.
‘With the return of our dropship,’ Marlin said, ‘we can now tackle the problem head on.’
‘Your dropship?’ Harl heard Kane mutter as the others stepped in beside him. Even Tess frowned at Marlin’s boldness.
‘We have lived this way for two thousand years,’ Marlin continued, ‘and we will not be held to ransom.’ His voice rose as he spoke the words. ‘We mustn’t quarrel among ourselves about the past when the enemy is at our airlock door. We must work hard to gather and supply what we need and when the time comes we’ll be ready to fight. So no more in-fighting, no more squabbling, no more hunger and no more fear!’
The crowd erupted in a chorus of applause and cheers.
‘Good to see you again,’ Marlin said, stepping down as the throng dispersed, full of energy and keenness. ‘If I’m honest I didn’t expect to see you or the ship again. Now that your here we can end this war.’
War? Harl thought, instead he said, ‘end it how?’
‘Well, ‘Marlin said, ‘Surely you must have seen the enemy from outside. Better than from the windows in here. Did you see a weakness?’
‘We saw it well enough,’ Kane said, ‘but no way to destroy it.’
Marlin smiled as if revealing a great secret to the ignorant. ‘We will use the dropship to break the arms and gain our freedom.’
‘There are no weapons on the dropship, Marlin.’ Tess said.
‘We don’t need weapons,’ Marlin said simply, ‘we’ll use the ship itself.’
‘You mean crash it?’ Kane said eyes widening, ‘into the struts?’
‘Exactly my meaning,’ Marlin said.
Harl felt unease spread through the group, of something unsaid between them. Things had obviously changed and not for the better.
‘Perhaps,’ an aged voice said, ‘you should talk in private somewhere about such matters.’
‘Gorman,’ Harl said, pleased to see the old man still up and about. His milky white stare crossed all of them, seeming to know their individual positions as if their shifting movements gave them away. He eased around Marlin as the leader questioned Tess about their time on the surface. The guards eyed Gorman as he stepped to where Harl was and accepted the embrace when Harl hugged him.
‘I see you took good care of them,’ Harl said, knowing the man would die for Sonora and the baby.
‘I did,’ Gorman said, ‘but it’s not been easy up here with you gone. There has been trouble.’
‘We saw on our way in.’ Harl said.
‘More than that,’ the old man said, his voice barely audible. ‘It’s dangerous lad.’
‘Been busy down there then?’ Gorman said loudly. Was he listening to Tess the same time as talking with Harl?
‘Perhaps we should find somewhere quieter to listen.’ The old man said, ‘I find it hard to hear with all the background chatter.
‘Outspoken as always, Mr Gorman,’ Marlin said. ‘Follow me me to the meeting room.’
‘Outspoken?’ Harl asked Sonora but Gorman hushed her from answering as they trailed behind Marlin. Harl noted the guards straying close behind Gorman, casting glances at the blind man as Sonora guided him, one hand clutching Elo the other tucked through Gorman’s arm.
Troy fell into step beside Harl as they squeezed into a tunnel off the main communal area towards the meeting room. He spoke quietly to Harl, hiding his voice under Marlin’s questions to Damen on the battle with Turpin.
‘It’s odd,’ he said, ‘people kept eyeing me and Da
na back there.’
‘Nothing strange about that,’ Harl said, hoping to convince himself that the situation didn’t feel forced. But the undercurrent of tension was spreading into him like rain through soil. ‘You do make an unusual couple.’
‘They don’t know we’re together,’ he looked around at the soldiers, ‘and the guards haven’t taken their eyes of her since we got here.’
Again Gorman hushed them, jabbing Troy with an unseen hand. The others may not have heard it but little escaped the blind man’s ears.
Marlin led them into the oddly smooth room, worn by centuries of meetings and debates about the future of the lives on board. They settled in the chairs around the long metal table as guards took up positions by the door and walls, leaning casually as if to seem relaxed and at ease.
Harl wondered if Screw would be able to shed some light on what has been going on, but the man was nowhere to be seen. He’d expected Marlin to ask after him but the man merely pressed on with his plan, oblivious or uncaring of the tension in the room.
‘As you can tell,’ Marlin said, ‘we have suffered hardship since you left. First it was with the water, we thought after so long you wouldn’t return.’ His focus left the seated group and drifted to the floor as if remembering a painful time. ‘Things were...tumultuous.’ He looked up again. ‘When the water arrived we were relieved but it brought with it this new ship forcing us in to a panic. That was when Turpin killed our soldiers and stole the dropship, leaving us without a plan. But I stayed strong- we stayed strong. Now the ship is back we can continue with the plan and free ourselves.’
Kane coughed and stood, planting both thin hands on the scratch metal table. ‘Your not seriously going to use the dropship as a battering ram?’
‘Yes,’ Marlin said, ‘have I not said as much already?’
‘Wouldn’t it be easier to just take everyone on board down on the dropship?’ Harl said. Surely it was the easiest option.
‘No,’ Marlin said, ’ I’ll not abandon our home only to be followed down and killed by the other ship or those in communication with it. And to where? No, it’s not safe to leave yet. I will find a way to take Orbital down myself if I have to.’