by Jamie Smart
‘Spee-scheez!’ Arto popped up beside him.
‘He’s the only one of his kind,’ Dev puffed. ‘And I need somewhere to hide him!’
‘Sir, yes, sir!’ Reginald saluted. ‘Prepare Space Fleet HQ for alien quarantine!’
Space Fleet HQ, otherwise known as Sam’s treehouse, was an old, rickety shed, beneath which a rundletree had grown, and grown, eventially lifting it up between its twisting branches. Dev climbed the rope ladder, crawled in through the doorway and cleared some space amongst the empty crisp packets. He then called for Boja, who found his own way in by climbing the tree, lifting off the entire roof and carefully wedging himself inside.
Once the roof was back on, Space Fleet HQ was virtually vacuum-sealed.
‘We’ll stand guard!’ Sam declared, as he, Arto, Reginald and Alice assumed defensive positions around the foot of the tree. Each taking it in turns to be distracted by Fervus the goat.
‘Thank you, Space Fleet,’ Dev called down to them as he struggled to move around Boja’s considerable bulk. ‘We’ll just hide here. At least until I can figure things out.’
‘INTRUDER!’ Reginald suddenly yelled, taking off his shoe and jabbing it towards the long grass. ‘Who goes there?’
Mina cautiously stepped out. ‘I … I followed Boja!’
‘No girls allowed!’ Reginald prodded the shoe into her belly.
‘I’m a girl,’ Arto shouted.
‘Me too,’ Alice added.
‘Oh, sure, but no other girls. You’re not, like, girls. You’re … well, I mean you’re girls. I mean …’ Reginald’s cheeks flushed red. ‘Sorry. Yes. YOU MAY PASS. Sorry.’
‘Mina, you shouldn’t … mmf … have come.’ Dev squeezed his head out through a window. ‘Everyone in the village is looking for us.’
‘He’s so bright!’ Mina gazed at Boja’s beautiful blue glow. It shone out through the windows, out between the cracks in the treehouse walls. ‘He’s so pretty.’
Dev felt Boja’s cheeks rise up in a smile.
‘He was supposed to be a bigger version of your Boja Bear,’ Dev said. ‘He was supposed to keep everyone safe. But, well, things haven’t quite worked out that way …’
Suddenly, Fervus bleated out an alarm and pointed his whole body back towards Middle Eden. Reginald took off his other shoe and stood behind him. The others grabbed what they could – bin lids, branches, Fervus – and together they reformed their defensive line in front of the tree.
‘W-what’s coming?’ Sam asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ Dev whispered.
A light blinked out somewhere ahead of them. Then another. And another. Generators banged and popped. The mossy grass crinkled and turned brown as if a poison was flowing through it, and suddenly a huge crack ripped through the middle of it all. Down the rocky overhang, down into Lower Lower Eden, tearing across the field and straight up the middle of the rundletree.
‘The land is dying!’ Dev screamed, but it was too late. Space Fleet HQ collapsed into the split, dragging him and Boja down in a cloud of splinters and dust. Boja landed on his ample bottom, and Dev, in turn, landed on Boja. Limpy the flemberbug spun a few circles above them, before finally settling on Boja’s nose.
‘I’m OK!’ Reginald shouted.
‘Behhh!’ Fervus agreed.
Silence.
And then some sniffles.
‘Mina!’ Dev cried, scrambling over the wreckage.
She sat beside the collapsed tree. Her eyes glistened, her lip quivered and she clutched her bandaged arm.
‘It still hurts,’ she said. ‘It hurts more.’
Dev bundled her into his arms, and together they slumped onto the ground. The rest of Space Fleet surrounded them. Some tried to hug Mina. Others helplessly patted her from a distance. One apologised for poking her with a shoe. None of it helped. Her face erupted into a wobbling mess of tears.
‘I need to fix this,’ Dev whispered, trying to hold back his own. ‘I need to fix all of this.’
Boja had been keeping himself occupied by watching Limpy pad back and forth across his nose. But his glance kept flicking over to Dev and Mina and, every time it did, his eyes would widen and his own lip would quiver. Eventually he hauled himself upright and cautiously crawled towards them. Mina recoiled out of instinct, but Boja reached out a big red paw and clasped it gently around her wrist. Wisps of flember spiralled out from his fur and around her whole arm, lighting it up so brightly Dev could see the shadow of the bones beneath her flesh. Mina’s tear-stained cheeks flushed a warm red, and they rose into a beaming, wondrous smile.
‘Sharing.’ Boja smiled back.
‘It doesn’t hurt!’ Mina waggled her fingers, before unravelling the bandage and waving her arm around. ‘IT DOESN’T HURT AT ALL!’
She threw herself at Boja, burying her face into his belly. ‘IFCH DUFSCHNT HUSCHT!’ she repeated, gripping his fur and hugging him tighter than he knew what to do with. Then Space Fleet were upon them both, piling into the hug. And Fervus too, hopping across them like stepping stones, bleating in mad delight.
‘Sharing.’ Dev stood, staring in amazement at Mina’s healed arm. ‘He’s sharing. He understands!’
Suddenly a cry went up from Middle Eden. There, on the overhang, Dev could see a crowd of villagers gesturing down.
‘They’ve seen us,’ Alice shouted. ‘Boja’s too bright to hide!’
Sam wrenched himself from the hug and jumped to attention. ‘Lieutenant Dev, what are our orders?’
‘I need to think,’ Dev mumbled. ‘I need to work this out. If Boja’s ready to share a bit of his flember here, then he might be ready to share more of it with the village.’
Alice ran to what was left of Space Fleet HQ and started handing out bits of broken wood. ‘Keep thinking! We’ll defend you!’ she cried. ‘Space Fleet’s last stand!’
‘It’ll take too long to run around, giving back the flember one tree at a time.’ Dev paced back and forth. ‘They’ll capture him before he has the chance. They won’t wait. They won’t listen!’
Dev stared at the villagers. They had reached The Wall now, spilling down alongside it. Building in numbers, tumbling and swelling like a wave. Some splitting away to find their own paths, slipping and sliding down the hill, before being swallowed back into the mass.
It sparked a memory inside Dev’s brain. The cold, damp cave. Ventillo. Watching the flember beneath them. It rushes up inside the mountain, she’d said.
‘They’re getting CLOSER!’ Reginald called out.
Then it washes back down.
‘Washes back down,’ Dev whispered.
And suddenly, every thought he was having mashed together into one.
‘Gravity!’ he gasped. ‘We can save the whole village in one go, if we can just get Boja back to the Eden Tree!’
26
Eden Cemetery
Although it was still only morning, thick rolling clouds had cast everything into a gloom. Lower Lower Eden, hidden beneath the overhanging rocks of the mountain, had now become almost as dark as night.
Bright, glowing Boja, however, undid all that. Dev tried to cover him with a Space Fleet flag, but it barely concealed his nose. Nope, he was like a shining lantern telling everyone where they were, so instead of creeping about in the dark, Dev decided, they’d just have to walk faster.
Space Fleet separated out. Sam, Alice and Fervus took the lead, since it was generally considered that they were the bravest. Reginald, Arto and Mina covered the rear. Limpy the flemberbug hopped between them, bringing forth giggles and snorts from whoever he landed on. Dev walked in the middle, alongside Boja, who grumbled and giggled from one second to the next.
‘Are you sure this is the way to the Eden Tree?’ Sam whispered, hanging back a little.
‘It’s … a different way.’ Dev smiled.
‘Oh no, no, no,’ Reginald suddenly whined, clinging onto the ears of his pig costume. ‘I know exactly where this path leads.’
‘Stay on tr
ack!’ Sam shouted.
‘YOU stay on track,’ Reginald snapped back. ‘I should have stayed at home! Don’t you know where we’re going?’
He pointed ahead, to where their path emerged from the shadows of Lower Lower Eden and wrapped itself around the mountainside. To where two tall iron gates hung from their hinges, squeaking gently back and forth in the breeze.
‘KEM-EH-TREE.’ Sam squinted. ‘It’s a kemetree?’
‘CEMETERY! A GRAAAAAVEYARD!’ Reginald hung on the As, to make it sound spookier.
The rest of Space Fleet, including Fervus, shrieked.
‘W-what’s in a graveyard?’ Mina cowered behind one of Boja legs.
‘GHO-O-OSTS!’ Reginald replied, pulling his pig ears down across his face.
‘ARE THERE REALLY?’ she yelped. ‘Then I don’t wanna go in!’
‘You don’t have to.’ Dev smiled.
A shivering jumble of wide, terrified eyes stared back at him.
‘We’re supposed to be brave …’ Sam mumbled.
Dev knelt down and clasped his clammy hand. ‘You are brave. All of you. Mina and Fervus, you too. You’ve all helped me and Boja come this far.’
He held out a finger and Limpy fluttered down upon it. ‘Here,’ he said, tilting Limpy into Sam’s hands. ‘Lead Space Fleet home. Limpy will light the way.’
Sam saluted. ‘Yes, sir! I can do that!’
The rest of Space Fleet saluted too. Reginald even nudged Mina to join in.
‘You’re honorary Space Fleet now,’ he whispered.
She beamed with joy.
Dev saluted back. Boja tried to, but just poked himself in the eye. So, instead, he waved both his arms. And he kept waving while Dev pushed him on through the broken gates. Up the narrow path. Around the mountain. Even when the children had completely disappeared from view.
He just really enjoyed waving.
Their path was precarious. To the left was a steep drop down to the sea. A cold, stinging drizzle blew up and whipped against Dev’s cheeks. To the right were trees – bare, twisted trees – their branches hanging down like long, deathly fingers. Their roots threading between hundreds and hundreds of tall, thin headstones, all stacked on top of each other.
Dev shivered and nuzzled deeper down inside his scarf. Between staring at the headstones and trying to keep Boja walking in a straight line, he almost didn’t notice the figure sitting up ahead of them.
‘I thought you might sneak this way,’ Santoro called out.
‘That’s Dad,’ Dev said. ‘Don’t sit on Dad.’
Santoro snorted, slid off the headstone and started walking towards his brother. His Guild uniform was torn, his helmet gone, but still he dragged his large sword along the ground behind him.
‘I … I saw what happened in the Hall,’ Dev stuttered. ‘I know they threw you out of the Guild. And I’m sorry.’
Santoro bumped his shoulder against him. ‘You’ve caused a lot of trouble today, Dev.’
‘I can fix it,’ Dev replied.
Santoro snorted. ‘You know, if Dad was still here, he’d despair at what you’ve done to our village.’
‘If Dad was still here,’ Dev gritted his teeth. ‘He’d want me to fix it.’
‘No, he wouldn’t. He’d ask why you can’t just leave things alone.’ Santoro leant in close to Dev’s face. ‘And then he’d fix it.’
Suddenly, Santoro swung his sword towards Boja. Dev instinctively leapt between them, slamming his hand onto his chest so his backpack ballooned out. First from the back, pushing Boja away, then out front, throwing Santoro into the dirt. But within seconds Santoro was back on his feet and lunging towards them again.
‘I’ll carve our flember out of that machine!’ he yelled.
Boja, his fur standing on end, his flember spinning out in great, wild arches, caught Santoro by the neck.
Tighter, he squeezed.
And tighter.
‘Boja, let him go!’ Dev jumped up at him. ‘You can’t do this. You can’t hurt people!’
Boja looked down at Dev, and then opened his fist, dropping Santoro back onto the ground.
‘No … friend,’ he huffed.
‘No, probably not,’ Dev replied, still struggling to stuff his inflatable backpack down.
Santoro, a little redder of face and choking for air, leapt upon his brother instead. ‘Your stupid experiments!’ he roared, swinging his fists at Dev’s head. One of his blows triggered Dev’s helmet, and suddenly all its metal arms went off at once – lenses, lights, claws, grips, all folding out and tangling together into a mesh.
‘I was trying—’ Dev protested.
‘I don’t CARE what you were trying to do, Dev. I Do. Not. CARE.’ With each word, Santoro wrenched away another metal arm. ‘All I care about is this village. All I care about is us being safe. And at every turn, you’re trying to undo that. Every new invention. Every single thought you have. Now our whole village is dying and it’s your fault! You and your stupid machine!’
Boja growled and started towards them. Dev gestured to him to stay back.
‘And even now, it’s me picking up the pieces,’ Santoro continued. ‘Because that’s what I do. I clean up your mess. It all falls on ME.’
Dev had always thought his brother was just mean. And now, suddenly, he saw something else in him too. Fear. It whistled through the cracks in his voice, glistened in the tears in his eyes. Santoro had been trying to keep his family safe, just as their dad would have done, but he didn’t know how. No one had shown him.
And he was terrified of getting it wrong.
It nearly broke Dev’s heart.
Santoro stopped. He slumped. He dropped the last of the metal claws and pushed himself onto his feet.
‘Why do I have to step into Dad’s shoes?’ He winced, walking over to his sword and dragging it up off the ground. He gripped both of his bruised, scratched hands around its handle and swung the blade back towards Boja.
‘Why do I have to fix all your mistakes?’
27
What Was Left of Shady Acres
Just then, something smacked Santoro across the face. It bounced across the path and came to rest beside Boja’s foot.
It was a carrot.
Another whizzed past his head. A third he managed to bat away with his sword. But it was too late, the bait had been set. Fervus the goat was already charging full pelt towards him. Space Fleet followed, yelling and whooping. They threw more and more carrots towards Santoro, who tried to shield himself, but within seconds he had been toppled to the ground.
‘We couldn’t abandon you, Dev!’ Sam yelled, battering Santoro with one of Reginald’s shoes. ‘Not when you were being attacked by an alien bounty hunter!’
Fervus hopped back and forth, bleating wildly, inhaling carrots as if he’d never tasted one before.
‘FEVVUSS!’ Boja cheered.
Mina emerged from the scrum, taking hold of Boja’s paw in one hand, Dev’s in the other. ‘RUN!’ she shouted, pulling them both up the narrow shingle path.
Shouting arose behind them. Santoro had broken free of Space Fleet’s attack and was racing after Boja, his sword still drawn. ‘I’ll save this village,’ he roared. ‘ME!’
backpack. First she pulled out Limpy, who tutted and clicked and then fluttered onto Dev’s shoulder. Then, to Dev’s surprise, she hauled out his old cheese canisters, and clipped them onto her heels, clicking them together. Something inside the canisters started to bubble, then billowed out in a great cloud of orange foam.
She looked to Dev with a glint in her eye.
‘I been imbenting.’ She grinned as the boots spun her round, then propelled her back down the hill. BAM! Helmet-first into Santoro’s stomach. A cheer went up, Space Fleet bundled in, and they all disappeared inside the enormous plume of foam.
Boja poked out his tongue and licked droplets from his nose. He smiled, and went a little cross-eyed.
‘Hibbicus beer.’ Dev sniffed at the air. ‘She was right!�
��
His heart swelled with pride.
‘And she’s bought us a few more minutes.’
Soon the cemetery was behind them, and the western peaks of Shady Acres rose into view. But this was not the Shady Acres Dev knew. Where bushy redfern trees had once grown, now only bare trunks stood. The grass had withered away, the soil had turned dusty and hard. Nothing swayed in the breeze, nothing hopped across the ponds.
No light shone.
Nothing breathed.
Dev’s hand absent-mindedly gripped Boja’s fur, as if trying to cling to something he hadn’t broken yet. He sighed, a long, exhausted, sigh, as he stepped between the flemberbugs on the ground. Hundreds, if not thousands of them. Their legs curled into their bellies. A nervous Limpy scuttled down from Dev’s shoulder, paused for a moment on his chest, then disappeared back inside his pocket.
Boja looked nervous too. He stood with his arms wrapped around himself.
‘Mine,’ he whispered.
Dev looked up at the Eden Tree. Its twisted branches, its withered trunk. Its roots, buckling up from the soil like the tendrils of a long dead monster.
‘It’s not all yours, Boja,’ he sighed. ‘You need to share …’
Suddenly Boja’s nose started to twitch.
‘WOH-FFLES.’ He grinned, turning to see Arnold the waffle maker still sitting in the ruins of his half-destroyed waffle cart, his face as pale as if he’d seen a ghost.
‘Oh no you don’t,’ shrieked Arnold.
But it was too late. Whatever thoughts Boja had been processing just moments before had all been thrown to the wind. Now all he could waffle was waffledy-waffle. He powered towards Arnold. His belly rumbling. His tongue flapping out of his mouth.