by Mark Lingane
“Wait,” Sebastian shouted. He ran after them. He reached out for Aaron’s shoulder. As soon as he made contact, Aaron spun around, his arms blurred and Sebastian found himself on his back in the sand with a long spear pointing at his head. “She’s been taken by the cyborgs, and we’re going to get her back,” he squeaked. “That’s where we’re going.”
Aaron looked to Gilly, who was looking pensive.
“You know it’s gonna end in trouble,” said Aaron. “We don’t gotta get involved in the white fella problems. They’ve done nothing for us except hurt the land.”
Gilly looked up at the forever horizon. It was a land barren of life, harsh and unrelenting. Everyone walked lightly one way or another. “Yeah, but it’s the kid’s mother. I remember her. Feisty. Some things should be remembered.”
Gilly extended his hand and helped Sebastian back up. He gave him a pat on the back, dislodging most of the sand. “Get your gang together and follow us,” he said.
Gilly and Aaron turned and sprang off into the great horizon.
“And you remember what she led us into,” Aaron said to Gilly.
“We chose to help,” said Gilly. “We always choose. But it looks to me like those cyborgs don’t like letting other folk choose.”
Aaron continued to protest, but Gilly said, “I’ve decided. We’re gonna help the kid and the fat girl.”
“Hey!” came a distant yell. “I’m not fat.”
Gilly and Aaron were walking across the plain. Melanie had offered them spots on the bikes but they preferred to walk ahead, talking to each other. So Melanie, with an expression that said “I’m about to die of boredom,” sat on her bike at the head of the pack with one hand on the accelerator and her elbow resting on the other handlebar supporting her chin. They had tied a stretcher, with Nikola strapped securely on, to the rear of Melanie’s bike and she was dragging it along behind her. At the speed they were travelling, he was never going to be bounced off.
At the rear of the group, @summer and Sebastian rode side by side.
“Is it true about your mother?” said @summer.
Sebastian nodded.
“Does the angry lady know that?”
“No. Not yet.”
“You should tell her. Deception will only lead to trouble. You need to be open. Open beats closed every time.”
Sebastian gave her a quizzical glance. He looked ahead at Melanie, who hadn’t changed her position. “There’s a time for everything,” he replied.
They drove on through the sand at a walking pace. The scenery had been epic and they had a very detailed look at it as they crawled through. To most of the gang, it was just sand, sand and more sand. But to @summer, it meant she was free. She was allowed to take her time and enjoy the experience, and as such was looking around with a big smile on her face.
She glanced over at Sebastian, who had a pained look. “What’s the matter?”
“Something’s coming. Something big.” He sagged but caught himself before falling off the bike. He looked out toward the northwest. “Here they come,” he whispered.
@summer followed his gaze. High up in the sky were three black dots. She let out a shout and pointed at the approaching figures.
They all stopped their bikes and stared. The dots were now discernable. Three dragons had targeted them and were dropping out of the sky to start a long and fast attack run.
44
GAVIN WAS TALKING frantically to Melanie, who was searching for any defensible position. There was no protection in sight.
Isaac was quietly panicking.
@summer looked over at Sebastian, whose face was a mask of pain. She got off her bike and ran over to him. “What’s the matter?” she said again.
“They’re stronger than normal.” He let out a big sigh. “This is going to hurt.”
“What is?” She looked around uncertainly at the rest of the gang. The only person not panicking was Nikola, due to his unconsciousness.
With some difficulty Sebastian stepped off his bike. He felt like a lead blanket had been thrown over him. The whole world dragged at him, forcing him to his knees. He fought back, supporting himself with his hands, burrowing into the sand.
He clambered back to his feet. With his head still down, he opened his eyes and looked up. He took a step back with one foot, clenched his fists and jaw, and braced for impact.
Melanie looked around and spotted him. “@summer,” she shouted, “find some protection for him. Your shield, anything. He’s never taken on three dragons at once before.”
@summer turned back to Sebastian with a look of shock and amazement.
He cleared his mind and concentrated. Light streamed past him. Three black wells of electromagnetic fury engulfed his entire consciousness. He felt small against the vast wall of darkness in front of him. The dragons’ power was immense, so much more than he had seen before. He swallowed and slowed his breathing.
He could hear the shouts and screams of others, like a distant echo lost in a fog. He felt a separation between the dark patches representing the dragons in the sky. He could feel the weight of the two that stayed together. They were so heavy. He felt his hold on them was loose and slippery, easily falling through his fingers. He kept caressing the weights, teasing them, until he could grasp them. The touch was so gentle that he felt it could fail at any moment.
He worked the fields, almost dancing with them, until he had them completely in his grasp. He paused, took a deep breath, and slowly teased them out to the sides. Then he threw the two together and was surrounded by light. The outside world came rushing back in as an ear-piercing scream.
He landed heavily on his back with the wind knocked from him. He felt something on top of him. He clutched onto it. It was soft and smooth under his touch and it filled him with warmth. Then it was gone.
@summer rolled off of him onto her back to extinguish the flames. She jumped to her feet and grabbed Sebastian by his hand, hauling him to his feet. His head ached like someone had dropped an anvil onto it. He looked around. He was standing well apart from everyone, surrounded by charred ground. Not far from him lay the wreckage of two of the dragons, twisted and smashed together, half buried in the sand.
Color drained from his face and he fell onto one knee.
“There’s still one up there,” shouted Melanie, pointing to the approaching dragon.
@summer grabbed Sebastian under the arm and led him back to the team. They all piled onto the steambikes, Melanie demanding now that Gilly and Aaron join them.
Sebastian fought against the approaching unconsciousness as the presence of the last dragon racked his body with pain.
“Quick, down there,” shouted Gilly, pointing to a small gully that led to a well-secluded enclosure.
The steambikes roared down into sanctuary. The gully quickly narrowed to a small gap between two towering rock walls. They jumped off the bikes and squeezed through the gap.
Melanie took Nikola’s arm around her shoulders and manhandled him through the crack. A narrow strip of sky was visible above them, where the menacing form of the surviving dragon swooped over them, appearing unexpectedly. A blast of its furnace-like breath rolled over the top of them. The heat blasted down through the opening above, causing them all to duck in defense.
Gilly and Aaron swept down a further two small underground passageways that delved deeper under the surface. The final passage opened up into a large cavern. Light was coming in from an unseen location and the whole area glowed with the brightness of day, but without the intense heat.
The sound of the dragon receded until it was nothing more than a distant roar.
They stood stationary, taking in the amazing scene, panting for breath. They knew they were underground, yet there was light, a cool breeze, a small creek, and a few huts. The huts were barely more than a couple of partial walls holding up a roof, but down in this cavernous space they seemed out of place. There were trees and bushes, even some small animals. A group of women were stan
ding by the creek with small children who were eagerly listening to their tales.
Gilly grabbed Nikola and with surprising strength carried him over to one of the huts, disappearing into the shade.
“Oh my, look at this place,” Melanie said.
“You don’t have dinosaurs and stuff down here as well?” a hopeful Sebastian asked Gilly.
“It’s … it’s …” said @summer, struggling with the concept in front of her.
“I think the word you’re after is oasis,” Sebastian said.
“No, it’s real. Real trees. Real plants. Real sand.”
They all turned to stare at her.
Gilly shouted at them and signaled for them to join him in the hut. They all shuffled over, their faces filled with awe. Sebastian was looking pale.
Gilly had placed Nikola down on a makeshift bed and was sitting on the ground mixing up a dark red liquid.
Sebastian’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground.
Gilly finished mixing and stood up. “Anyone else crook?” he said. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Nikola.
@summer ran over to Sebastian and propped him up against what constituted the wall. She checked his eyes and ran her device over him. Then she laid him down on the ground and started administering an injection of a clear liquid.
Gilly felt various parts of Nikola’s body. He opened an eyelid and gently placed a droplet of his red liquid onto Nikola’s pupil. He watched. He shook his head and stared at the far end of the small stream, at the point it ran into the rock face.
“What’s the verdict?” Melanie asked Gilly.
“He’s pretty far gone. I ain’t sure we can bring him back,” Gilly replied. “You’s gonna have to leave him here for some time. Do you know where the radiation came from?”
Melanie looked at Sebastian. “I have a terrible feeling it may have been from Sebastian.”
“The young fella? Ain’t ever heard of anything like that before.”
She sighed. “Yeah, it’s a bit unusual.”
“Is it anything to do with the way he brought down those great scary flapping fiery things?” She nodded. “I’m surprised we don’t have a foretellin’ of him in the dreamtime stories. It’s a pretty dangerous power. He needs to get out of here.”
They both looked over at Sebastian. He was beginning to stir. @summer had placed a small inflatable pillow under his head and was stroking his brow. He awoke with a start, unsure of where he was. He saw @summer and smiled.
Melanie turned back to Gilly and they smiled knowingly at each other.
Isaac and Gavin were sitting around taking in the scenery and trying to ignore each other.
“Funny how they speak to Melanie,” Isaac observed. “It’s usually opposite. People can’t wait for her to stop.”
“Just a stupid backward people. Who, with any sense, would put females in charge of anything?” Gavin asked.
Isaac chortled. “You sound like Oliver. You should hear what he says about the females in my …” he hesitated, not wanting to reveal anything, “in my group.”
“He’s a man with vision and sense. People have their rightful places and should stick with them.” Isaac looked from Gavin to Melanie and back. He went to speak, but an outburst from Melanie sidetracked him.
45
“GO?” ISAAC SAID. “Where do we go?”
“We’ve been running long enough. Let’s attack,” Melanie said.
She clenched her fists and dived her arms into the twin gun-machines’ support structure. Her bare skin glistened with sweat and blood as they disappeared into the cylinders. She lifted the guns and tilted them up. In unison the mechanisms rolled back and engaged the ammunition with an ominous click.
She stood with gun-machines raised, shoulders back, hair flowing out behind her, silhouetted by the boiling setting sun. Her eyes darkened and her jaw was set. “We come back victors, or we don’t come back at all.”
“What’s the plan?” Isaac asked.
“I see we have a fundamental disconnect with your understanding of how I work.”
“She means there’ll be running and firing big guns,” Sebastian said.
“Yeah, possibly with some shouting thrown in. But I’m flexible on that,” she said.
“I’ve told you my thoughts on running,” Isaac said.
“We go to the Hive,” she said. “We bring it down. We save the world and live happily ever after.”
“I can see you’ve thought this out thoroughly,” Isaac said. “It can’t fail.”
“What are your ideas?” There was silence for a while. “I thought so.”
“But we don’t know anything about the Hive,” Isaac said.
@summer raised her hand. “I know some things about it.”
Everyone went silent.
“But it’s your home. Why would you help us destroy it?” Isaac said.
“They killed my parents. They tried to kill me.”
“She has a point,” Gavin said. “If they’ve treated her badly, I can totally see why she’d want to get back at them. What’s she got left there?”
“He’s correct. The good.good looking boy with whooshy hair—”
“Gavin,” he offered, accompanied by a charming smile.
“Gavin, I have some information that might help.”
“She could lead us into a trap,” Melanie said.
“How? She’s lost her communications thing,” Sebastian said.
“tinyIris,” @summer said.
“Yeah, that.”
“Sebastian, you need to look at it objectively,” Melanie said.
“I am.”
“And I am, within a fairly large degree of being correct, fairly certain you are not being objective, most importantly because I doubt you even know what the word means. But as everyone seems to have lost their mind and is agreeing with you, I might as well join the asylum.”
She turned to face the slight cyborg with the piercing green eyes. “Tell me, @summer, how can we get in?”
@summer looked at Melanie and gave her a big smile. “You will #like this.”
“Are we all okay with the plan?” Melanie said.
Everyone nodded slowly. Isaac looked terrified.
“Okay, let’s saddle up and roll out.” She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
“What about Nikola? He’s in no condition to travel,” Sebastian said.
Melanie nodded. “That’s why he’s staying behind.”
“We can’t leave him here.”
“Why not? Can you do better than these people? They’re experts at this, with more knowledge than we’ll ever have. Tell me what you think you can contribute. What are they doing wrong?”
Sebastian looked at his feet and mumbled defensively.
“I don’t make any of these decisions lightly. They all hurt, like a knife in the stomach. But we can’t wait around here. We need to act.”
Seeing Sebastian’s face, she said, “Look, Sebastian, I hate to say this, and you know this is true, but we have to leave him because of you. Nikola is the normal one. And you make normal people sick. But us, we’re different somehow. You make us better, stronger. You’ll kill him if you stay around him much longer. Let him rest and heal. We can go and kick some cy butt.” She gave him a smile and ruffled his head, an action that was getting a little ridiculous, as he was nearly as tall as her.
She went to leave, then turned back. From her belt she withdrew a long brass dagger. She flipped it into the air and caught it by its blade, handing the grip to Sebastian.
“You know what this is?”
He nodded. “Your captain’s blade.”
“Nikola gave it to me. It represents everything I can be. You can image how much it means to me. I want you to have it.”
“I can’t.”
She grabbed his hand and wrapped it around the grip. “Carry it. Hide it. Use it. Think of me. Think of Nikola.”
Melanie searched for Gilly to give him her apprec
iation for his efforts. He was still tending to Nikola, who had recently vomited up the red liquid. The smell made her stomach turn.
“Better go before the other end joins in,” Gilly said.
“Oh my god, that’s way too much information. Is he going to be all right?”
“It’s hard to say. It’s a long and messy road, and anything can go wrong at any time. I’ll do me best, but no promises. Right?”
Melanie nodded. Her heart was heavy with the thought of losing a handy warrior and a great friend. Especially one with such great hair.
“You’ve been very kind. But we must go.” She half-bowed, half-nodded, offered a hand then gave up. Their customs were a mystery to her.
“We got some handy stuff, if you’re looking for more protection. Plenty of shiny shields and body armor that’ll defend you well against their laser blasters.”
“That would be very useful. Have you got enough for everyone?”
“We got tons of the stuff. All shapes and sizes. They’ll even fit you.”
She gave him a sharp look. “Watch what you’re implying.”
The gang suited up. Isaac admired the craftsmanship of the metalwork, considering it wasn’t part of the Aborigines’ heritage. He enquired after a magical sword, but received a clip around the ear from Melanie.
Gilly stood back and admired the gang. “If nothing else, they’ll see you coming for miles. You can dazzle them.”
Melanie smiled. “You bet I will.”
The gang had traveled for three days, with few breaks. Rationed sleep had kept them strung out but they made excellent time over the hundreds of miles. Now they peered over a rocky outcrop. Off in the distance was a deep, wide cavern barely visible among the dense foliage. The large sand-colored hangar doors to the Hive completed the camouflage, only visible when they opened and the sun reflected off the shiny edges.
“I never thought about how the dragons get out. It seems so obvious now,” Sebastian said.