by Drew Herdman
Rhescue
Drew Herdman
Copyright Drew Herdman 2010
Chapter 1.
RHES ARRIVES.
Grey smoke leaked into the cabin. The fire had started in the engine room at the back of the space ship, where two wires had rubbed together, until a spark had set fire to the plastic covering
Rhes, the pilot, sat looking into a television screen. His reflection showed a dark-skinned man like being. His hands, as they moved lightly over the controls, were long and thin, and he wore a one-piece, silvery suit that showed how thin he was. The only difference from a real human being was when his eyes were visible. The centres were dark, with a yellow slit, just like cat, instead of normal colours with black centres.
Back in the engine room, the smoke was getting thicker. It forced its way up the passage towards the cabin, in thick coils and loops. The fire alarm had not sounded because the fire had eaten its way through the wires and disconnected the bells.
Because Rhes was so busy looking into the screen, it was only when he smelled the smoke that he turned to see what was happening. His hand leaped to the fire extinguisher switch, but when he pushed it, nothing happened. Again the fire had destroyed the wiring.
The space ship gave a lurch as the autopilot cut out and started to descend. Rhes grabbed for a support but missed, and hit his hand on the corner of the table. The pain made him shout, but when he took another breath, he took a lung full of smoke which made him choke, and breath in even more of the foul-smelling air. His eyes watered and he was now so dizzy that he fell to the floor. The ship tilted down more steeply, and he slid to the wall where he lay unable to move. He knew that the ship was going to crash, and hoped that when it happened, it would not be too bad, and he would survive.
He had been sent from his own planet, to scout earth, and find out whether it would be possible or desirable for his race to contact earth. His own planet was cold, and the next few thousand years would make it uninhabitable. Even though there was plenty of time, scouts had been sent all over the universe, to try to find an uninhabited place for them go to. They would have preferred a lone planet, but if there weren't any, perhaps co-operation might be a good thing.
The twins, both fair haired and blue eyed, had just passed their twelfth birthday, and were walking home from their Uncle Josh’s' house. They had been there to thank him for their presents.
Uncle Josh was a large round man, always smiling, and ready with a laugh. He had always been a fisherman, and had lived in a cottage near the harbour, where his boat, the REDWING was kept. She was his pride and joy, and many times he had taken the twins out with him when he went to lift his crab and lobster pots, or let them help as he hauled in his net, usually full of slithering, flapping, shiny fish. The twins had learned about sailing, and boat handling from him, and were good sailors, able to handle a boat in most weathers.
Now, however, it was just twilight, and the setting sun cast long shadows along the beach and cliffs. The twins had walked along the beach, up the winding path to the top of the cliffs and into the forest. They had often taken this short cut, so the trees, even though they looked rather clawlike, as they swayed gently in the evening breeze, held no terrors for them.
Because the path was rather narrow, they had to walk in single file, and when Robin suddenly stopped and held up his hand, Robina trod sharply on his heels.
"What on earth are you doing?" she asked in a very surprised tone.
"Look", said Robin, pointing upwards. "There's a shooting star. Quick, make a wish!"
That's not a shooting star". replied Robina, with a quiet chuckle. "Shooting stars go out. Well, if its not a shooting star, what is it?"
"I don't know" replied Robina, "but it seems to coming this way".
Sure enough the star was sliding down the sky, and it seemed to be curving towards them.
They stood still, unable to move, while the shape grew bigger and bigger, until it passed over head with a swoosh. The blast nearly knocked them over, and as they staggered about, they saw a jet of flame spout from what was now easily seen to be a space ship.
The braking rockets had fired from the front in a final attempt to stop the ship from smashing itself to pieces. They heard a crashing among the trees, then silence.
Without thinking, they ran through the trees, until they could see the shining space ship, half buried in a mound of earth. Broken branches lay higgleddy piggledy all around. The nose of the ship was well buried, and this had put out any fire. As the twins came nearer, they could see a window with a light shining out. But that was all. There seemed to be a shadow moving about, but the twins could see no more than that.
Robin started forward, but Robina grabbed his sleeve
"What do you think you are doing?" she asked.
"I'm going to see what I can do to help", replied Robin, as he tugged his sleeve out of Robina’s' hand.
"Don't be silly," said Robina, her voice rising, "There could be anything in there!"
"Don't worry", came the reply, "I can look after myself."
He stepped up to the space ship and peered in. It was just as he said, "There's nothing in here", that he saw the still figure of what seemed to be a man, lying on the floor, crushed against the wall, with smoke billowing round him.
"There's a man trapped in there. "He shouted. "We've got to get him out."
By this time Robina had joined him, and she too, saw the figure on the floor. The smoke seemed to be getting thicker. Robin was looking for a way in, and soon saw a doorway with a smooth closed door with no handle showing.
Beside it was a small hollow with a push button in it.
"This must be the way in", he said as he pushed the button. At first, nothing happened, until with a click, and a hiss, the door slid sideways. Black smoke gushed out, and the twins jumped back out of the way.
"You can't go in there", said Robina, but Robin just laughed and said,
"Watch me!"
He pulled his hanky out of his pocket and covered his mouth and nose with it. Taking a deep breath, he jumped into the doorway and vanished from sight. He soon found the door into the cabin, but when he turned the handle, he found that it was jammed. The crash must have bent something. Without wasting a second, he stood back, and kicked out, his heel smashing into the lock just by the handle. The door flew open, and a fresh cloud of smoke pushed out. Robin dropped to his knees, and looked along the floor. The smoke was thinner there, and he could see the shape in front of him. Even with the hanky over his mouth and nose, he was breathing in some smoke, and he could feel himself getting dizzy.
"Must go on", he said to himself. Crawling forward, he got hold of the shape, and started to drag it out. The strain was awful, and he soon felt tired. He managed to drag the shape to the cabin door, but the way out seemed too far off.
Darkness closed in on him, and in the distance he heard a faint voice calling,
"Come on. Come on. You can do it".
It would be nice to stop, he thought to himself. If I just had a moments' rest.
But the voice he could hear would not let him rest.
"Come on. Come on." it repeated over and over. He tried to go on. Now he could see the faint shape of the doorway, but it seemed so far off. He felt that he would never make it.
"Just one more try,” he said to himself, " then I must stop".
As if from miles away, he felt a tug at his sleeve, and with one last huge effort fell out of the doorway, with the shape almost on top of him. He tore off the hanky, and gasped great lungs full of fresh air. Soon he felt better and turned over to look at the person he had rescued. Robina had pulled the body straight, and was dabbing at a cut on its cheek.
"He's breathing alright" she said, as the fi
gure started to move.
They pushed and pulled at him until he was sitting with his back to a tree. After a few moments he opened his eyes. He saw the space ship partly buried in a mound of earth, with a wisp of smoke still curling from the open door. He tried to stand up, but sat down again with a groan, and clasped his hands to his head.
"Don't try to get up" , cried Robin. The stranger looked up at him, and said something that the twins couldn't understand. After repeating it a couple of times, and seeing the blank looks on their faces, the stranger put his hand into a pouch on his belt, and drew out a small black box. The box had a chain on it, and when the stranger put it over his head, the box hung down on his chest.
He pressed a button, and repeated his funny words, and the box spoke words the twins could understand.
"Hello", he said. "What happened?"
"Your spaceship crashed" added Robina, "and Robin saved your life. He dragged you out of the fire!"
A long silence fell, and after a while the stranger told them his story of trying to find an empty world for them to move to, and how his planet was slowly dying, and how he had been searching in this corner of the sky. The twins saw a tear run down his cheek as he realised he could not get back to them.
"You could stay with us", suggested Robina, but the stranger refused, saying that no one must see him or know that he was from another world.
The fire had gone out, and the stranger looked it over carefully, and decided that he could save most of it, and that it would make a nice home, after he had tunneled to some nearby caves.
"What will you do for food?" asked Robina, as she imagined the stranger wasting away.
"Never mind" laughed the stranger, "I live on special pills, and there's more than enough to last my lifetime in the ship. There's a stream over there, so I'll never be thirsty,"
Robina suddenly realised that they had been chattering away, and had not introduced themselves.
"My name is Robina." she announced "and this is my brother Robin. Who are you?"
"I am called RHES." he replied. "Just Rhes".
"We will have to go now" said Robin. "Mother doesn't like us being out too long in the dark, but we will come and see you tomorrow after school".
s they went down the path towards home, they turned and waved to the lonely figure standing in the doorway.
"Good bye", they chorused. "Good night sleep well", and they vanished into the trees. Off went the twins to their house in the village, almost bursting with excitement, but knowing that they must never say a word about their wonderful adventure.
They both lay awake for a long time before going to sleep that night.
The next day they could hardly wait until the end of the lessons at school. Mother had noticed that they had hardly eaten any breakfast, but felt that that was nothing new. They were always up to something.
"Where are you going?" asked Mother.
"Just up to the woods." replied Robin, and off they dashed.
"You both be very careful" called Mother after their running feet as they pelted up the hill. 'What has got into those two?' she thought, but forgot them as a pan nearly boiled over.
long a seldom used and overgrown track the twins hurried. Robin suggested that they pull branches across the track to hide it from other people who might stumble on the space ship, and so keep it secret.
Soon the path opened up into a grassy glade, but there was no sign of the space ship. Sadly the twins walked into the glade, and sat on a low hillock As they sat there staring around, Robin said,
"I'm sure this is the place"
"It most certainly is", replied Robina. "How could Rhes have gone off and left us. I'm sure he said the ship was smashed beyond repair, and even if he had fixed it,
I'm sure he would have waited to say goodbye."
Just then they heard a quiet laugh. The twins jumped as if they had been stung.
"What was that?" yelped Robina, trembling. As they stood there, a piece of the hillock slid back, and there was Rhes, a huge grin on his face.
"Camouflage" he said. "If I can fool you two, I can fool anyone who may chance to come along here. I worked all night, and now the ship is completely buried, and I also now have a back door into the caves, and this rather nice front door".
They all went in, and when Rhes pushed another button, the door slid shut. Rhes showed them round his new home, where he slept, and where he worked, and even the robots that had helped him during the night, After a while he suggested that they sat down and talked, as he wanted to know where he was, and how the people lived nearby.
The twins told him that many many years ago when people first came to live here on the island, it had been joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of rock. This had fallen into the sea when an earthquake had struck. This had not bothered the people, because some of them became farmers, and others became fishermen, and so they had become self sufficient. In recent years, a bridge had been built, but as the villagers had everything they wanted, they seldom needed to go to the mainland, and very few of the town’s people visited them.
"This seems just perfect", said Rhes. "It will make my life easier if nobody from the town sees me". He took a small medallion from his belt, and after a moments thought, gave it to Robin, saying.
"I owe you my life, and I will never forget it. I want you to wear this medallion, and if you ever need me, just hold it tightly, and think of me as hard as you can. Your thoughts will be sent to me, and an alarm will sound on mine. When I hear this I will know that you need me. I will always be able to find you".
Just then they felt the space ship tremble. Outside, the trees waved their branches, and the leaves rustled together. It only lasted a moment, and then all was still again.
"What was that?" asked Rhes, in a rather worried voice.
"That was just a small quake", replied Robin. "They happen very often, but nothing ever comes of it".
"A big quake happened some time ago", reminded Rhes
"That was ages and ages ago", laughed Robin.
"Yes", agreed Rhes, "But it could happen again.